Alteration of afferent, tone-evoked activity of neurons of the cochlear nucleus following acoustic stimulation of the contralateral ear

Recordings were made by means of stereotaxically, introduced microelectrodes from single neurons of the cochlear nucleus of cats in light barbiturate anesthesia. The ipsilateral ear was acoustically stimulated with aa earphone, and the resulting neuronal activity recorded. Following this, the contralateral ear was simultaneously stimulated, and the activity resulting from this binaural stimulation was measured. The sound pressure in both ears was low enough to preclude suprathreshold acoustic crosstalk. It was shown that the evoked activity of afferent neurons of the cochlear nucleus was reduced by contralateral acoustic stimulation. This inhibition was dependent on the frequency of the contralaterally applied tone.