How our brain filters sounds
Neuroscience News
Our sound environment is extremely dense, which is why the brain has to adapt and implement filtering mechanisms that allow it to hold its attention on the most important elements and save energy. When two identical sounds are repeated quickly, one of these filters – called auditory sensory gating – drastically reduces the attention that the brain directs to the second sound it hears. In people with schizophrenia, this ability to reduce the brain’s response to identical sounds does not function properly. The brain, it seems, is constantly assailed by a multitude of auditory stimuli, which disrupt its attentional capacity.
