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Noise-induced increase in human auditory evoked fields

Background noise is usually detrimental to auditory perception. However, psychophysical studies have shown that in some circumstances low levels of broadband noise may improve signal detection. Here, we measured auditory evoked fields (AEFs) while participants listened passively (no response required) to stimuli embedded in low or moderate levels of continuous Gaussian noise. As a control condition, the stimuli were also presented without background noise. The AEFs were modeled with a pair of dipoles in the superior temporal plane and the effects of noise on the amplitude and latency of the resulting source waveforms were examined. The results show that low-level background noise enhanced AEF amplitude. The effects of continuous low level Gaussian noise on AEF amplitudes were comparable for young and older adults. Possible explanations for the noise-induced increase in AEF amplitude are a lengthening of the temporal integration window and/or efferent feedback connections between the auditory cortex and lo...