A phenomenological model of the synapse between the inner hair cell and auditory nerve: Implications of limited neurotransmitter release sites

Peterson and Heil [Hear. Res., In Press] have argued that the statistics of spontaneous spiking in auditory nerve fibers (ANFs) can be best explained by a model with a limited number of synaptic vesicle docking (release) sites (∼4) and a relatively-long average redocking time (∼16–17 ms) for each of the sites. In this paper we demonstrate how their model can be: i) generalized to also describe sound-driven ANF responses and ii) incorporated into a well-established and widely-used model of the entire auditory periphery [Zilany et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 135, 283–286, 2014]. The responses of the new model exhibit substantial improvement in several measures of ANF spiking statistics, and predicted physiological forward-masking and rate-level functions from the new model structure are shown to also better match published physiological data. •Improved model of the mammalian auditory periphery developed.•4 neurotransmitter sites per auditory nerve fiber explains spiking statistics.•Improved predictions of auditory nerve rate-level functions obtained.•More accurate predictions of auditory nerve forward masking achieved.