The interhemispheric auditory white matter tract is associated with impulsivity.

The association between auditory processing and impulsivity has been consistently shown. However, the exact mechanism and pathological relations are not clear. The bilateral auditory cortices are interhemispherically connected through the corpus callosum.

Sleep duration is associated with auditory radiation microstructure.

Objectives: Although hearing has been shown to interact with sleep, the underlying mechanisms for the interaction remain largely unclear. In the absence of knowledge about the neural pathways that are associated with hearing-sleep interaction, this study aimed to examine whether the auditory radiation, the final portion of the auditory pathway from the cochlea to the cerebral cortex, shows association with sleep duration.

Methods: Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) data from enhanced Nathan Kline Institute-Rockland Sample (NKI-RS), we isolated the white matter tracts between the medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus and Heschl's gyrus in each individual subject (N = 465) using probabilistic tractography.