The finding gives hope for a future tinnitus cure in humans. The final neuron of the primary auditory pathway links the thalamus to the auditory cortex, where the message, already largely decoded during its passage through the previous neurons in the pathway, is recognized, memorized and perhaps integrated into a voluntary response. Scientists were able to eliminate tinnitus a persistent ringing in the ears in rats by stimulating a nerve in the neck while playing a variety of sound tones over an extended period of time. Moreover, the associative cortex integrates generated visual, auditory, gustatory and other general sensory signals. The motor cortex is responsible for planning, controlling and executing voluntary movements. These two relays play an essential rГґle in the localisation of sound.ДЄ last relay, before the cortex, occurs in the medial geniculate bodyВ (thalamusВ ) it's here that an important integration occurs: preparation of a motor response (eg vocal response). The cortex of the human brain is categorized into three functionally unique areas namely associative, sensory and motor (2). , any sound that is designed to gain attention. For example, it registers sirens, door bells, telephone ringers, etc. Located in the temporal lobe, a part of the cerebral cortex, it receives signals from the ears pertaining to pitch and volume of sound. 2 Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA Center for Brains, Minds and Machines, Cambridge, MA, USA. Leaving this relay, a third neuron carries the mesage up to the level of the inferior colliculusВ (mesencephalusВ ). Auditory Cortex is the section of the brain that processes information received through hearing. The second major relay in the brain stem is in the superior olivary complex: the majority of the auditory fibres synapse there having already crossed the midline. The first relay of the primary auditory pathway occurs in the cochlear nuclei in the brain stem, which receive Type I spiral ganglion axons (auditory nerve) at this level an important decoding of the basic signal occurs: duration, intensity and frequency.

Auditory cortex