Effect of stimulus duration for bone-conducted ultrasound on N1m in man.

Ultrasound can be heard by bone conduction in man. However, there has been no consensus about the perception mechanism of bone-conducted ultrasound (BCU). In the current study, to clarify the central auditory system of BCU, the effects of stimulus duration for 30 kHz BCU on N1m were compared with those for air-conducted 1 kHz tone bursts by magnetoencephalography. As a result, the growth of N1m amplitude for both stimuli saturated at the duration of 40 ms, which suggest that the temporal integration system of BCU is similar to that of audible sound. However, significant differences in the growth were observed below the saturation points. The results indicate a possibility that there are some differences in the central auditory system between BCU and audible sound.