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When sinusoidal electric stimulation is applied to the intact cochlea, a frequency-specific acoustic emission can be recorded in the ear canal. Acoustic emissions are produced by basilar membrane motion, and have been used to suggest a corresponding acoustic sensation termed “electromotile hearing.” Electromotile hearing has been specifically attributed to electric stimulation of outer hair cells in the intact organ of Corti. To determine the nature of the auditory perception produced by electric stimulation of a cochlea with intact outer hair cells, guinea pigs were tested in a psychophysical task. First, subjects were trained to report detection of sinusoidal acoustic stimuli and dynamic range was assessed using response latency. Subjects were then implanted with a ball electrode placed into scala tympani. Following the surgical implant procedure, subjects were transferred to a task in which acoustic signals were replaced by sinusoidal electric stimulation, and dynamic range was assessed again. Finally, the ability of acoustic pure-tone stimuli to mask the detection of the electric signals was assessed. Based on the masking effects, it is concluded that sinusoidal electric stimulation of the intact cochlea results in perception of a tonal (rather than a broadband or noisy) sound at a frequency of 8 kHz or above. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brief cochlear excitotoxicity produces temporary neural swelling and transient deficits in auditory sensitivity; however, the consequences of long-lasting excitotoxic insult have not been tested. Chronic intra-cochlear infusion of the glutamate agonist AMPA (α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid! resulted in functional deficits in the sound-evoked auditory brainstem response, as well as in behavioral measures of hearing. The electrophysiological deficits were similar to those observed following acute infusion of AMPA into the cochlea; however, the concentration-response curve was significantly shifted as a consequence of the slower infusion rate used with chronic cochlear administration. As observed following acute excitotoxic insult, complete functional recovery was evident within 7 days of discontinuing the AMPA infusion. Distortion product otoacoustic emissions were not affected by chronic AMPA infusion, suggesting that trauma to outer hair cells did not contribute to AMPA-induced deficits in acoustic sensitivity. Results from the current experiment address the permanence of deficits induced by chronic (14 day) excitotoxic insult as well as deficits in psychophysical detection of longer duration acoustic signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basilar membrane (BM) velocity responses were measured in the presence of olivocochlear bundle (OCB) stimulation. Frequency threshold tuning curves (FTCs) were derived from tone-evoked input-output (I/O) functions. Efferent nerve activation produced decreases in velocity amplitude for frequencies around best frequency (BF) at low stimulus levels with little or no effect for stimuli well below the BF. A level-dependent efferent reduction/enhancement of BM velocity was found for certain stimulus frequencies above the BF. Efferent activation either had no effect or caused small reductions in the velocity response produced by low level sound, whereas, at higher stimulus levels, efferent activation increased the velocity response. The derived FTCs, therefore, showed criterion-dependent changes with efferent activation. For low BM criterion velocities, FTCs showed the classic desensitization of the tip region without a shift of BF. Some BM velocity criterion values showed FTCs with an expanded high-frequency response area, also without a shift of BF. The results suggest that the effect of OCB activation changes the gain of the voltage-dependent outer hair cell motility such that BM velocity response near BF is decreased while increasing the response for tones well above BF. © 1997 Acoustical Society of America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report provides a detailed analysis of tone-evoked velocity responses of basilar membrane (BM) motion measured in the basal turn of the guinea pig cochlea. A laser Doppler vibrometer, coupled to a compound microscope, measured the velocity of reflective microbeads placed onto the scala tympani surface of the BM. The velocity responses of the stapes footplate were also determined, allowing the calculation of a BM transfer function. The normal transfer function is compared to that seen with cochlear ''insensitivity'' and postmortem. This comparison results in measures of the active process contribution to the magnitude and phase of the BM transfer function. It was found that the active process contributed as much as 65 dB of ''gain'' and 270° of phase lag at the best frequency. Other details about features of input/output velocity functions and the derived mechanical frequency-tuning curve at a criterion of 50 μm/s are analyzed. © 1996 Acoustical Society of America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voltage recorded from an electrode on the round window (RW) of guinea pig has characteristics that reflect the activity of auditory-nerve fibers in the absence of acoustic stimulation. Fast Fourier transformation (FFT) of the noise recorded from the RW electrode shows a broad spectral peak from 0.8-1.0 kHz. The magnitude of the biological noise is increased by high-frequency, bandlimited acoustic noise stimulation. Pure tones can suppress or enhance the spectral components around 0.8-1.0 kHz depending on frequency and intensity. Kainic acid applied to the intact RW membrane eliminates the biological noise (and the evoked cochlear whole-nerve responses) without alteration of the cochlear microphonic or the summating potential. The spectral characteristics of the biological noise seem to be related to the elemental waveform contributed by the individual auditory-nerve fibers to the voltage recorded at the RW electrode [Kiang et al., Electrocochleography, edited by R. J. Ruben, C. Elbering, and G. Solomon (University Park, Baltimore, 1976)]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recordings of dc and ac receptor potentials from pigmented guinea pig inner hair cells indicate strong responses to the 2f1-f2 intermodulation tone when f1 and f2 are greater than the hair cell characteristic frequency and do not cause a response when given individually. The effective magnitude of this cubic distortion product (CDP) was about 25-30 dB below equal sound level primaries over a 20-30-dB range of their sound levels. The relative strength of the CDP declined at a rate greater than 180-dB/oct separation of the primaries. When magnitude of f1 or f2 was held constant, the growth of CDP was nonmonotonic, exhibiting a distinct maximum. With a constant level of f1 or f2, optimal CDP was produced when the level of f2 was 10-15 dB greater than f1. Strong two-tone suppression from the primaries has a role in shaping the CDP growth. The ac receptor potentials of the CDP show a 150°-200° phase shift when the primaries are increased over a 50-dB range. These results support the hypothesis of a propagated CDP in the cochlea and are consistent with the major features of related studies of human psychoacoustic experiments, afferent nerve neural rate functions, and ear canal distortion products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The whole-nerve cochlear action potential (CAP), to tone burst stimulation, was recorded before and after application of tetrodotoxin (TTX) to the intact round window (RW) membrane. TTX abolished the CAP leaving a residual negative potential without altering the summating potential (SP) or the cochlear microphonic (CM). The residual potential retained its polarity when recorded from scala vestibuli. The peak latency, amplitude, and tuning properties of the residual potential showed features similar to the CAP. Application of kainic acid to the RW membrane eliminated the residual potential, leaving the SP and CM unaltered. It is hypothesized that the sources of the residual potential are the excitatory post-synaptic potentials from the peripheral processes of afferent dendrites under the inner hair cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of broadband noise (BBN) on the tone-evoked dc receptor potential from inner hair cells of guinea pigs were measured. The effects of the noise were: suppression of the receptor potential, no net change, or greater depolarization relative to the tone alone, evoked receptor potential. The effects appear to be consistent with a two-tone suppression hypothesis. The time course of the suppression effect is immediate and constant in time. This observation suggests no obvious involvement of a local feedback loop in outer hair cells or one depending on the efferent nerves. Inner hair cell ''sensitivity'' is a variable in the magnitude of the suppression. Comparison of masked, tone-evoked dc receptor potential intensity functions to responses from auditory-nerve fibers (taken from the literature for experiments using a similar paradigm) differentiates the phenomena of suppression and adaptation in the auditory periphery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cochlear whole-nerve response (CAP) intensity functions were recorded from the guinea pig round window. The intensity functions were obtained in the presence of masking noise, with electrical stimulation of the crossed olivocochlear bundle (COCB), and the combination of masking noise and COCB stimulation. Electrical stimulation of the COCB produced the expected reduction of CAP magnitude for low- to moderate-intensity tone bursts. Masking noise produced reductions in CAP magnitude over the whole signal intensity range used in this study. The combination of electrical stimulation of the COCB with the masking noise produced CAP magnitude changes graded between reduction and enhancement dependent on signal and masker levels. In general, at low signal levels, the masked CAP magnitude is reduced compared to the masked alone condition. At high signal levels, the masked CAP is increased in magnitude. These results confirm and extend the earlier observations of Nieder and Nieder [Exp. Neurol. 28, 174-188 (1970); also, Nature 227, 184-185 (1970)]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]