This paper investigates the occurrence of stochastic resonance in the three-dimensional Hindmarsh-Rose (HR) neural model driven by both multiplicative and additive Gaussian noise. Firstly, the three-dimensional HR neural model is transformed into the one-dimensional Langevin equation of the HR neural model using the adiabatic elimination method, and the effects of HR neural model parameters on the potential function are analyzed. Secondly the Steady-state Probability Density (SPD), the Mean First-Passage Time (MFPT), and the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of the HR neural model are derived, based on two-state theory. Then, the effects of different parameters (a, b, c, s), noise intensity, and the signal amplitude on these metrics are analyzed through theoretical simulations, and the behavior of particles in a potential well is used to analyze how to choose the right parameters to achieve high-performance stochastic resonance. Finally, numerical simulations conducted with the fourth-order Runge–Kutta algorithm demonstrate the superiority of the HR neural model over the classical bistable stochastic resonance (CBSR) in terms of performance. The peak SNR of the HR neural model is 0.63 dB higher than that of the CBSR system. Simulation results indicate that the occurrence of stochastic resonance occur happens in HR neural model under different values of parameters. Furthermore, under certain conditions, there is a ‘suppress’ phenomenon that can be produced by changes in noise, which provides great feasibilities and practical value for engineering application.