Effect of the magnitude of abrupt change in sound pressure on the magnitude and phase synchrony of 40-Hz auditory steady state response

A periodic sound with a fixed inter-stimulus interval elicits an auditory steady-state response (ASSR). An abrupt change in a continuous sound is known to affect the brain’s ongoing neural oscillatory activity, but the underlying mechanism has not been fully clarified. We investigated whether and how an abrupt change in sound intensity affects the ASSR. The control stimulus was a train of 1-ms clicks with a sound pressure level (SPL) of 70 dB at 40 Hz for 1000 ms. In addition to the control stimulus, we applied six stimuli with changes consisting of a 500-ms train at 70 dB followed by a 500-ms similar train with louder clicks of 75, 80, or 85 dB or weaker clicks of 55, 60, or 65 dB. We obtained the magnetoencephalographic responses from 15 healthy subjects while presenting the seven stimuli randomly. The two-dipole model obtained for the 40-Hz ASSR in the control condition was applied to all of the stimulus conditions for each subject, and then the time–frequency analysis was conducted. We observed that both the amplitude and the inter-trial phase coherence of the 40-Hz ASSR transiently decreased and returned to the steady state after the change onset, i.e., the desynchronization of 40-Hz ASSR. The degree of desynchronization depended on the magnitude of the change regardless of whether the sound intensity increased or decreased, which might be a novel neurophysiological index of cerebral response driven by a change in the sensory environment.