Responses of neurons in the rat’s inferior colliculus to a sound are affected by another sound in a space-dependent manner

The perception of a sound can be influenced by another sound in a space-dependent manner. An understanding of this perceptual phenomenon depends on knowledge about how the spatial relationship between two sounds affects neural responses to the sounds. We used the rat as a model system and equal-probability two-tone sequences as stimuli to evaluate how spatial separation between two asynchronously recurring sounds affected responses to the sounds in midbrain auditory neurons. We found that responses elicited by two tone bursts when they were colocalized at the ear contralateral to the neuron were different from the responses elicited by the same sounds when they were separated with one at the contralateral ear while the other at another location. For neurons with transient sound-driven firing and not responsive to stimulation presented at the ipsilateral ear, the response to a sound with a fixed location at the contralateral ear was enhanced when the second sound was separated. These neurons were likely important for detecting a sound in the presence of a spatially separated competing sound. Our results suggest that mechanisms underlying effects of spatial separation on neural responses to sounds may include adaptation and long-lasting binaural excitatory/inhibitory interaction.