Mathematical Biology Seminar Josh Goldwyn University of Washington 3:05PM, Wednesday, February 23, 2011 LCB 219 Analysis of stochastic auditory nerve models with applications to cochlear implant psychophysics Abstract: ochlear implants are neural prostheses that restore a sense of hearing to individuals with severe to profound deafness. Two fundamental theoretical questions that we face are: How does the auditory nerve respond to electrical stimulation? And how is sound information represented in the spike trains of auditory nerve fibers? We will discuss model-based efforts to investigate these questions. I will focus on the development of reduced models that incorporate essential biological features of this complicated system, and remain useful tools for analyzing neural coding. Using a point process model of the auditory nerve, I simulate amplitude modulation detection, a common test of temporal resolution. I find that the temporal information in the simulated spike trains does not limit modulation sensitivity in cochlear implant users, and discuss how the point process framework can be extended to include additional biophysical mechanisms. Next, I illustrate how spatial spread of excitation and neural degeneration can lead to of within- and across-patient variability in listening outcomes. This points toward an important goal of computational modeling: to develop patient-specific models that can be used to optimize stimulation strategies for individual cochlear implant users.