ABSTRACT
The central auditory system has both parallel and hierarchical afferent architectures.
In the frequency domain, it is tonotopically constrained, and in the spatial domain,
it is dominated by a representation of the contralateral acoustic hemifield. The functions
supported by the afferent pathways can be somewhat overlapping, and the connectivity
among the pathways is to some degree plastic. Partial deafferentation (in the form
of high-frequency hearing loss) and behavioral experience are capable of causing alterations
in tonotopic maps in the more rostral auditory system, even in adult animals. Central
auditory processing is often frequency-specific. The temporal processes needed for
normal auditory function are diverse, which is to be expected given the heterogeneous
ways in which auditory events are disposed in time and encoded neurally. Central auditory
pathologies need not respect structural or functional boundaries in the brain, and
so should be expected to have idiosyncratic presentations. Management strategies based
on auditory training may exploit basic neuroplasticity, but more evidence is needed
to substantiate any hypothesis of their differential efficacy in remediation of central
auditory processing disorders or language and reading problems.
KEYWORDS
Auditory neuroscience - neural representation - neural plasticity - temporal processing
- perceptual architecture - auditory training
