Predicting Vulnerability to Acoustic Injury with a Noninvasive Assay of Olivocochlear Reflex Strength

Permanent noise-induced damage to the inner ear is a major cause of hearing impairment, arising from exposures occurring during both work- and pleasure-related activities. Vulnerability to noise-induced hearing loss is highly variable: some have tough, whereas others have tender ears. This report do...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of neuroscience 2000-06, Vol.20 (12), p.4701-4707
Main Authors: Maison, Stephane F, Liberman, M. Charles
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic Stimulation
Animals
Auditory Threshold
Cochlea - physiology
Disease Susceptibility
Evoked Potentials, Auditory - physiology
Feedback
Guinea Pigs
Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced - physiopathology
Humans
Male
Neurons - physiology
Olivary Nucleus - physiology
olivocochlear reflex
otoacoustic emissions
Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous - physiology
Reflex - physiology
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Summary:Permanent noise-induced damage to the inner ear is a major cause of hearing impairment, arising from exposures occurring during both work- and pleasure-related activities. Vulnerability to noise-induced hearing loss is highly variable: some have tough, whereas others have tender ears. This report documents, in an animal model, the efficacy of a simple nontraumatic assay of normal ear function in predicting vulnerability to acoustic injury. The assay measures the strength of a sound-evoked neuronal feedback pathway to the inner ear, the olivocochlear efferents, by examining otoacoustic emissions created by the normal ear, which can be measured with a microphone in the external ear. Reflex strength was inversely correlated with the degree of hearing loss after subsequent noise exposure. These data suggest that one function of the olivocochlear efferent system is to protect the ear from acoustic injury. This assay, or a simple modification of it, could be applied to human populations to screen for individuals most at risk in noisy environments.
ISSN:0270-6474
1529-2401
DOI:10.1523/jneurosci.20-12-04701.2000