Key result
Repeated acoustic bursts trigger selective habituation across neurovascular, motor, and late-phase cardiac defensive responses.
Why the study?
Although the defense reflex has been extensively characterized across sensory modalities, the integration of electrical, neurovascular, motor, and peripheral autonomic responses across the central and autonomic nervous systems remains poorly understood.
Does repeated high-intensity auditory stimulation induce neural, vascular, motor, and autonomic habituation in human participants?
Does repeated high-intensity auditory stimulation induce neural, vascular, motor, and autonomic habituation in human participants?
This study characterizes the selective habituation of central, neurovascular, motor, and peripheral autonomic responses to repeated high-intensity auditory stimulation in humans.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Should not yet change autonomic assessment in clinical practice; leaves open the clinical utility of multimodal neurovascular monitoring during acute acoustic stress.
The defense reflex has been extensively characterized across sensory modalities; however, the integration of electrical, neurovascular, motor, and peripheral autonomic responses involving the central and autonomic nervous systems remains poorly understood. This study investigated defensive responses to high-intensity auditory stimulation using a multimodal approach combining electroencephalography (EEG), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and peripheral physiological measures. Participants were exposed to twenty white-noise bursts (100 dB, 500 ms, instantaneous rise time) separated by silent intervals (50 ± 10 s), grouped into five blocks to assess initial responses and habituation. Hemodynamic responses revealed widespread activation of bilateral auditory and frontal regions following stimulus onset, with a progressive reduction in response amplitude and extension of active channels across blocks. Network analysis suggests progressive reorganization of functional connectivity between sensory and frontal regions across repeated stimulation. At the peripheral level, habituation was observed in phasic electrodermal activity, vascular indices, motor response, EEG-derived ocular activity, and parasympathetic cardiac modulation, primarily after the first block, whereas respiratory measures remained stable. Cardiac defense-like responses show a multi-temporal component structure, with habituation restricted to the late decelerative phase. Multivariate analyses revealed a structured yet partially independent organization of neural and autonomic responses to habituation. Together, these findings provide a comprehensive characterization of multisystem responses to intense auditory stimulation, highlighting selective habituation across central, neurovascular, motor, and autonomic systems, and offering new insights into how neurovascular and peripheral processes adapt to repeated auditory threats.
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Muñoz et al. (2026) studied Healthy/human defensive response to auditory stimulation. High-intensity auditory stimulation (white-noise bursts) was evaluated on Central, neurovascular, motor, and peripheral autonomic defensive responses and habituation (via EEG, fNIRS, and peripheral physiological measures). Repeated 100 dB white-noise bursts induced bilateral auditory/frontal activation and selective habituation across neurovascular, motor, and late-phase cardiac responses across 5 blocks.
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