The relationship between spike rate and synchrony in responses of auditory‐nerve fibers to single tones

Discharge patterns of single auditory‐nerve fibers in the cat responding to single tones were recorded and analyzed. Synchronization of the discharges to the stimulus tone was measured for frequencies below 6‐kHz. The synchronized response and the average discharge rate each varied with stimulus level over 20–30‐dB ranges. However, these ranges overlapped only over a 10‐dB range. Under certain conditions the average rate of response varied without accompanying variation in the synchronized response. The physiological implications of these observations are discussed.