Eye position influences auditory responses in primate inferior colliculus

We examined the frame of reference of auditory responses in the inferior co lliculus in monkeys fixating visual stimuli at different locations. Eye pos ition modulated the level of auditory responses in 33% of the neurons we en countered, but it did not appear to shift their spatial tuning. The effect of eye position on auditory responses was substantial-comparable in magnitu de to that of sound location. The eye position signal appeared to interact with the auditory responses in at least a partly multiplicative fashion. We conclude that the representation of sound location in primate IC is distri buted and that the frame of reference is intermediate between head- and eye -centered coordinates. The information contained in these neurons appears t o be sufficient for later neural stages to calculate the positions of sound s with respect to the eyes.