The paper applies biologically plausible models to investigate how noise input to small ensembles of neurons, coupled via the extracellular potassium concentration, can influence their firing patterns. Using the noise intensity and the volume of the extracellular space as control parameters, we show that potassium induced depolarization underlies the formation of noise-induced patterns such as delayed firing and synchronization. These phenomena are associated with the appearance of new time scales in the distribution of interspike intervals that may be significant for the spatio-temporal oscillations in neuronal ensembles.