Fig. 6. Combination of spectral cues and ILDs are used to form a topographic map of azimuthal auditory space.

Within-ear contrast of the input spectrum is used to provide an excitation to sound from the frontal field, while across-ear contrast (ILD) in a broad frequency range provides the excitation to sound from the lateral field (blue circles with − signs denote frequency bands that negatively influence the response; red circles with + signs denote frequency bands that positively influence the response). Neurons in the SC receive these inputs with different weights depending on their anteroposterior position. This progressive change of the weight creates the auditory topographic map of azimuthal space in the mouse SC.