Abstract: Objective To explore whether the pattern of neuron’s auditory response to a sound stimulus affects the characteristics of stimulus- specific adaptation (SSA) in awake mice. Methods The auditory responses of the neurons in the inferior colliculus to sound stimuli were recorded using microelectrodes in awake mice. The sequence of sound stimuli consisted of random combinations of pure tones of two different frequencies (f1 and f2) with different repetition rates. The auditory responses of the neurons to standard and deviant stimuli were calculated, namely s(f2)/s(f2) and d(f1)/d(f2), respectively. Three indexes of the responses were also calculated, including the firing difference index (FDI), frequency-specific index (SI), and common SSA index(CSI). Results The CSI of neurons with a greater FDI was significantly higher than that of neurons with a smaller FDI (P<0.05). The primary-like neurons showed different characteristics of SSAs in different time periods; SSA was significantly increased in the phase of sustained response compared with that at the onset of response (P< 0.05). Conclusion The auditory response pattern to sound stimuli is also an important factor that affect SSA of inferior colliculus neurons in awake mice.