Quantitative analysis of intensity--rate and intensity--latency functions in peripheral auditory nerve fibers of northern leopard frogs (Rana p. pipiens).

The intensity--rate and intensity--latency functions were analyzed quantitatively from single auditory fibers in the eighth nerve of northern leopard frogs (Rana p. pipiens). There was a firing rate change of as high as 15 impulses/s and a latency shift of as much as 1.4 ms per dB change in sound intensity. These rates of change were different for units with the same best excitatory frequency and greater for each unit studied at lower intensities than at high intensities. The significance of the latency function on central binaural time processing was discussed.