Single-unit auditory nerve fibre responses of young-adult and aging gerbils

This dataset was collected to study the functional consequences of age-related hearing loss for the auditory nerve, which carries acoustic information from the periphery to the central auditory system. Using high-impedance glass electrodes, raw voltage traces and spike times were recorded from more than one thousand single fibres of the auditory nerve of young-adult, middle-aged, and old Mongolian gerbils raised in a quiet environment. The dataset contains not only responses to simple acoustic stimuli to characterize the fibres, but also to more complex stimuli, such as speech logatomes in background noise and Schroeder-phase stimuli. A software toolbox is provided to search through the dataset, to plot various analysed outcomes, and to give insight into the analyses. This dataset may serve as a valuable resource to test further hypotheses about age-related hearing loss. Additionally, it can aid in optimizing available computational models of the auditory system, which can contribute to, or eventually even fully replace, animal experiments.

Methods
The dataset presented here contains the raw waveforms and spike times from single auditory nerve fibres of young-adult, middle-aged, and old gerbils, while presenting a variety of acoustic stimuli to assess the functioning of the single fibres. Gerbils were anesthetized with ketamine/xylazine injections and auditory brainstem responses (a type of compound response) were recorded to derive a measure of their general hearing sensitivity. The auditory nerve was approached dorsally through the cerebellum and a sharp, high-impedance glass electrode was slowly moved through the nerve. Single-unit recordings were made for as long as the surgical preparation was stable. Afterwards, spikes in the data were identified, data files were organized into folders of one single unit, data were analysed to characterize the fibre, and a set of criteria was used to ensure the single unit derived from the auditory nerve bundle. Methods are described in detail in the accompanying manuscript.

本数据集采集自一项研究，旨在探究年龄相关性听力损失对听神经（auditory nerve）的功能影响——听神经负责将声学信息从外周传递至中枢听觉系统。研究采用高阻抗玻璃电极，从饲养于安静环境中的青年、中年及老年蒙古沙鼠的千余条听神经单纤维中记录了原始电压轨迹与锋电位发放时间。本数据集不仅包含用于表征纤维特性的简单声学刺激响应，还涵盖了背景噪声下的语音音节（speech logatomes）与施罗德相位刺激（Schroeder-phase stimuli）等复杂声学刺激的响应数据。配套提供了一款软件工具箱，可用于检索数据集、绘制各类分析结果，并帮助研究者深入理解相关分析流程。本数据集可作为探究年龄相关性听力损失相关假说的宝贵资源，同时也有助于优化现有的听觉系统计算模型——这类模型可助力乃至最终完全替代动物实验。

方法
本数据集包含青年、中年及老年沙鼠听神经单纤维的原始波形与锋电位发放时间，实验中通过呈现多种声学刺激以评估单纤维的功能状态。沙鼠经氯胺酮/甲苯噻嗪（ketamine/xylazine）注射麻醉，同时记录听性脑干反应（auditory brainstem responses，一种复合电位反应）以获取其整体听力敏感性的量化指标。研究通过小脑背侧入路暴露听神经，将尖锐的高阻抗玻璃电极缓慢插入神经组织中。在手术制备状态稳定期间，完成单单位记录。后续工作中，研究者对数据中的锋电位进行识别，将数据按单单位整理至对应文件夹，开展分析以表征该听神经纤维的特性，并通过一系列标准确认所记录的单单位确来自听神经束。详细实验方法见随附的研究手稿。