Integrating spatial and temporal mechanisms in auditory neural fiber's computational model

Abstract

In traditional speech signal processing methods and current auditory based methods, features are extracted based on power spectrum, that is, spatial or temporal mechanism is used to simulate the frequency response of our cochlear function. The disadvantage of these methods are that noise and tone signals are processed equally, but, in fact, our auditory system percepts noise and periodic stimulation with different sensitivity: if the stimulation is noise, the audible threshold is high, and the gain for noise is low. On the contrary, if the stimulation is periodic time series, then the auditory system's audible threshold will be low and the gain will be high, that is the temporal processing aspect. In this paper, spatial and temporal mechanisms are integrated in neural firing response, thus the representation not only represents the average firing rate of neural fibers, but also enhances the periodic components of the stimulation. Thus, this representation can have both merits of the two processing methods.