Discrimination of brief speech sounds is impaired in rats with auditory cortex lesions

▶ We tested the discrimination of speech sounds in rats with auditory cortex lesions. ▶ Full-length speech sound discrimination is spared after auditory cortex ablation. ▶ We reduced potential cues in the sounds by truncating them to the first 40 ms. ▶ Normal discrimination of brief speech sounds is comparable to full-length speech. ▶ Auditory cortex lesions impair discrimination of the first 40 ms of speech onsets.