Physiologically, the similarity between auditory and somatosensory processing begins in the structure and function of the receptor organs. ![]() These interactions between audition and touch may be a consequence of several striking similarities between the auditory and somatosensory systems. Such results suggest the existence of highly tuned multisensory integration mechanisms for gathering consistent information about the environment, such as when hearing and feeling one's hand rubbing over textured surfaces. 2009) and vice versa ( Ito and Ostry 2012), and higher auditory frequencies and intensities can alter texture perception ( Jousmaki and Hari 1998 Guest et al. 2010), somatosensory stimuli can influence the perception of language ( Gick and Derrick 2009 Ito et al. 2010), somatosensory vibrations influence the perceived intensity of auditory stimuli ( Yau et al. For example, auditory sounds at one frequency affect the perception of somatosensory vibrations at the same or similar frequencies ( Ro et al. Consistent with this phenomenology, several recent behavioral studies have demonstrated systematic perceptual interactions between the auditory and somatosensory modalities. Many sounds can induce sensations that are felt on the body, such as high-pitched screeching noises or low-frequency thumping sounds. These results provide an anatomical basis for multisensory interactions between audition and somatosensation and suggest that cross-talk between these regions may explain why some sounds, such as nails screeching down a chalkboard or an audible mosquito, can induce feelings of touch, especially on the contralesional body surface of patient SR. We further show that these cross-modal connections are exaggerated between the auditory and secondary somatosensory cortex in the lesioned hemisphere of a patient (SR) with acquired auditory-tactile synesthesia, in whom sounds alone produce bodily sensations. ![]() ![]() Using diffusion tensor imaging with both deterministic and probabilistic tractography to measure white matter connectivity, we show that there are extensive ipsilateral connections between the primary auditory cortex and the primary and secondary somatosensory regions in the human cerebral cortex. Here, we provide evidence that the neural substrates for audition and somatosensation are anatomically linked. Hearing and feeling both rely upon the transduction of physical events into frequency-based neural codes, suggesting that the auditory system may be intimately related to the somatosensory system.
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