The otolithic organ as a receptor of vestibular hearing revealed by vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials in patients with inner ear anomalies.

The otolithic organ as a receptor of vestibular hearing revealed by vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials in patients with inner ear anomalies.

Sheykholeslami Kianoush; Kaga Kimitaka

Hearing research

2002

2002-03

The human vestibule has preserved an ancestral sound sensitivity and it has been suggested that a reflex could originate from this property underlying cervical muscle micro-contractions secondary to strong acoustic stimulation. Previous studies have established that an early component of loud sound-evoked myogenic potentials from the sternocleidomastoid muscle originate in the vestibule. This is based on findings that the response can still be obtained from patients with complete loss of cochlear and vestibular (semi-circular canal) function. Our data confirm, in a more direct way, a saccular origin of this short-latency acoustic response and verifies that a saccular acoustic response persists in the human ear. The contribution of this response to the perception of loud sounds is discussed. It is concluded that vestibular response to sound might be used to assist in the rehabilitation of deafness.

Adolescent; Adult; Audiometry; Auditory Threshold; Bone Conduction; Child; Cochlea/abnormalities/diagnostic imaging; Cochlear Diseases/complications/diagnostic imaging/*physiopathology; Deafness/etiology; Evoked Potentials; Female; Hearing/*physiology; Humans; Labyrinth/*physiopathology; Male; Neck Muscles/*physiopathology; Otolithic Membrane/*physiopathology; Preschool; Pure-Tone; Reaction Time; Saccule and Utricle/physiopathology; Tomography; Vestibule; X-Ray Computed

Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

62–67

1

165