ANAT-610-001: Systems Neuroscience — Auditory System

Spring 2026 | Virginia Commonwealth University

Simulation 1

Human Hearing Range Sweep

An automatic frequency sweep from 20 Hz to 32 kHz across intensity levels (0–70 dB relative). Maps your personal hearing threshold by holding the spacebar when tones are audible, visualized on an octave-scaled audiogram.

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Simulation 2

Auditory Cortex Receptive Field Simulator

Explore how auditory cortex neurons respond to combinations of frequency and intensity. Adjust tuning parameters to visualize receptive fields, characteristic frequencies, and response maps across the tonotopic axis.

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Simulation 3

Cochlear Basilar Membrane Simulator

Visualize how the basilar membrane responds to sound. Adjust frequency, intensity, tuning sharpness, and damping to see traveling wave patterns and the tonotopic organization of the cochlea, with real-time audio output.

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Simulation 4

Interaural Time Difference (ITD) Tuner

Demonstrates how the brain uses microsecond timing differences between ears to localize sound. Adjust the ITD delay and mute individual ears to experience binaural processing and the precedence effect.

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Simulation 5

Interaural Intensity Difference (IID) Simulator

Explore how level differences between the two ears contribute to sound localization, especially for high-frequency sounds. Adjust IID values and frequency to observe the head shadow effect and binaural level cues.

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Simulation 6

Harmonics & Timbre — Melody Loop

Plays a looping melody while you adjust the strength of individual harmonics in real time. Demonstrates how the same pitch can sound like different instruments depending on harmonic content (timbre), with waveform and spectrum visualization.

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