Bajo, V. M. & King, A. J. Cortical modulation of auditory processing in the midbrain. Front. Neural Circuits 6, 114 (2013).

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Souffi, S., Nodal, F. R., Bajo, V. M. & Edeline, J.-M. When and how does the auditory cortex influence subcortical auditory structures? New insights about the roles of descending cortical projections. Front. Neurosci. 15, 690223 (2021).

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Olthof, B. M. J., Rees, A. & Gartside, S. E. Multiple nonauditory cortical regions innervate the auditory midbrain. J. Neurosci. 39, 8916–8928 (2019).

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Schmehl, M. N. & Groh, J. M. Visual signals in the mammalian auditory system. Annu. Rev. Vis. Sci. 7, 201–223 (2021).

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Lohse, M., Zimmer-Harwood, P., Dahmen, J. C. & King, A. J. Integration of somatosensory and motor-related information in the auditory system. Front. Neurosci. 16, 1010211 (2022).

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Bieler, M., Xu, X., Marquardt, A. & Hanganu-Opatz, I. L. Multisensory integration in rodent tactile but not visual thalamus. Sci. Rep. 8, 15684 (2018).

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Schröder, S. et al. Arousal modulates retinal output. Neuron 107, 487–495.e9 (2020).

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Spacek, M. A. et al. Robust effects of corticothalamic feedback and behavioral state on movie responses in mouse dLGN. eLife 11, e70469 (2022).

Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Petty, G. H. & Bruno, R. M. Attentional modulation of secondary somatosensory and visual thalamus of mice. eLife 13, RP97188 (2024).

Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Oertel, D., Wright, S., Cao, X.-J., Ferragamo, M. & Bal, R. The multiple functions of T stellate/multipolar/chopper cells in the ventral cochlear nucleus. Hear. Res. 276, 61–69 (2011).

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Trussell, L. O. & Oertel, D. in The Mammalian Auditory Pathways Vol. 65 (eds Oliver, D. L., Cant, N. B., Fay, R. R. & Popper, A. N.) 73–99 (Springer, 2018).

Jing, J. et al. Molecular logic for cellular specializations that initiate the auditory parallel processing pathways. Nat. Commun. 16, 489 (2025). This study in mice provides insight into the molecular basis for the anatomically and physiologically distinct types of neuron found in the cochlear nucleus, the first station in the central auditory pathway, which are specialized for processing different sound features in parallel.

Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Keine, C. & Englitz, B. Cellular and synaptic specializations for sub-millisecond precision in the mammalian auditory brainstem. Front. Cell. Neurosci. 19, 1568506 (2025).

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Blackburn, C. C. & Sachs, M. B. The representations of the steady-state vowel sound /e/ in the discharge patterns of cat anteroventral cochlear nucleus neurons. J. Neurophysiol. 63, 1191–1212 (1990).

Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Sayles, M., Füllgrabe, C. & Winter, I. M. Neurometric amplitude-modulation detection threshold in the guinea-pig ventral cochlear nucleus. J. Physiol. 591, 3401–3419 (2013).

Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Scholes, C. et al. Precise spike-timing information in the brainstem is well aligned with the needs of communication and the perception of environmental sounds. PLoS Biol. 23, e3003213 (2025).

Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Recio-Spinoso, A. & Rhode, W. S. Information processing by onset neurons in the cat auditory brainstem. J. Assoc. Res. Otolaryngol. 21, 201–224 (2020).

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Lu, H.-W., Smith, P. H. & Joris, P. X. Mammalian octopus cells are direction selective to frequency sweeps by excitatory synaptic sequence detection. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2203748119 (2022).

Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Davis, K. A. & Young, E. D. in Integrative Functions in the Mammalian Auditory Pathway (eds Oertel D., Fay R. R. & Popper A. N.) 160–206 (Springer, 2002).

Wigderson, E., Nelken, I. & Yarom, Y. Early multisensory integration of self and source motion in the auditory system. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, 8308–8313 (2016). This study shows that sensitivity to vestibular stimulation enables neurons in the rat dorsal cochlear nucleus to distinguish between movement of a sound source and the relative motion caused by movement of the head, an essential aspect of accurate sound localization.

Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Joris, P. X., Carney, L. H., Smith, P. H. & Yin, T. C. T. Enhancement of neural synchronization in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus. I. Responses to tones at the characteristic frequency. J. Neurophysiol. 71, 1022–1036 (1994). This seminal study shows that, compared with their auditory nerve inputs, bushy cells in the cat anteroventral cochlear nucleus exhibit enhanced synchronization or phase locking to low-frequency tones, enabling them to transmit temporal information with higher fidelity to their downstream targets.

Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Finlayson, P. G. & Caspary, D. M. Synaptic potentials of chinchilla lateral superior olivary neurons. Hear. Res. 38, 221–228 (1989).

Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Tollin, D. J. & Yin, T. C. T. Interaural phase and level difference sensitivity in low-frequency neurons in the lateral superior olive. J. Neurosci. 25, 10648–10657 (2005).

Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Franken, T. P., Joris, P. X. & Smith, P. H. Principal cells of the brainstem’s interaural sound level detector are temporal differentiators rather than integrators. eLife 7, e33854 (2018).

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Beiderbeck, B. et al. Precisely timed inhibition facilitates action potential firing for spatial coding in the auditory brainstem. Nat. Commun. 9, 1771 (2018).

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Schnupp, J., Nelken, I. & King, A. Auditory Neuroscience: Making Sense of Sound (The MIT Press, 2011).

Brand, A., Behrend, O., Marquardt, T., McAlpine, D. & Grothe, B. Precise inhibition is essential for microsecond interaural time difference coding. Nature 417, 543–547 (2002).

Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Franken, T. P., Roberts, M. T., Wei, L., Golding, N. L. & Joris, P. X. In vivo coincidence detection in mammalian sound localization generates phase delays. Nat. Neurosci. 18, 444–452 (2015).

Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Kopp-Scheinpflug, C. et al. The sound of silence: ionic mechanisms encoding sound termination. Neuron 71, 911–925 (2011).

Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Felmy, F. & Meyer, E. in The Senses: A Comprehensive Reference 556–565 (Elsevier, 2020).

Loftus, W. C., Bishop, D. C. & Oliver, D. L. Differential patterns of inputs create functional zones in central nucleus of inferior colliculus. J. Neurosci. 30, 13396–13408 (2010).

Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Goyer, D. et al. A novel class of inferior colliculus principal neurons labeled in vasoactive intestinal peptide-Cre mice. eLife 8, e43770 (2019).

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Palmer, A. R., Shackleton, T. M., Sumner, C. J., Zobay, O. & Rees, A. Classification of frequency response areas in the inferior colliculus reveals continua not discrete classes. J. Physiol. 591, 4003–4025 (2013).

Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar