  The impact of inhibitory and excitatory synapses in delay-coupled
Hodgkin--Huxley neurons that are driven by noise is studied. If both synaptic
types are used for coupling, appropriately tuned delays in the inhibition
feedback induce multiple firing coherence resonances at sufficiently strong
coupling strengths, thus giving rise to tongues of coherency in the
corresponding delay-strength parameter plane. If only inhibitory synapses are
used, however, appropriately tuned delays also give rise to multiresonant
responses, yet the successive delays warranting an optimal coherence of
excitations obey different relations with regards to the inherent time scales
of neuronal dynamics. This leads to denser coherence resonance patterns in the
delay-strength parameter plane. The robustness of these findings to the
introduction of delay in the excitatory feedback, to noise, and to the number
of coupled neurons is determined. Mechanisms underlying our observations are
revealed, and it is suggested that the regularity of spiking across neuronal
networks can be optimized in an unexpectedly rich variety of ways, depending on
the type of coupling and the duration of delays.
