Auditory scene analysis following unilateral inferior colliculus infarct.

Event-related potentials in the form of mismatch negativity were recorded to investigate auditory scene analysis capabilities in a person with a very circumscribed haemorrhagic lesion at the level of the right inferior colliculus. The results provide the first objective evidence that processing at the level of the inferior colliculus plays an important role in human auditory frequency discrimination. Moreover, the electrophysiological data suggest that following this unilateral lesion, the auditory pathways fail to reorganize efficiently.