Transmission Pathways of Vibratory Stimulation as Measured by Subjective Thresholds and Distortion-Product Otoacoustic Emissions

Watanabe, Tomoo; Bertoli, Sibylle; Probst, Rudolf

doi:10.1097/aud.0b013e3181775dde

Cited by 46 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…It has been shown that direct stimulation of the soft tissues (i.e., eye or neck) stimulates the cochlea and causes a hearing sensation (11,24,25). In the current measurements, the gain for both the cochlear promontory vibration and intracranial pressure tended to be below 0 dB for stimulation to the eye and neck, relative to stimulation to the mastoid.…”

Section: E388contrasting

confidence: 49%

Intracranial Pressure and Promontory Vibration With Soft Tissue Stimulation in Cadaveric Human Whole Heads

Röösli

Dobrev

Sim

et al. 2016

Otology &Amp; Neurotology

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HYPOTHESIS: Intracranial pressure and skull vibrations are correlated and depend on the stimulation position and frequency. BACKGROUND: A hearing sensation can be elicited by vibratory stimulation on the skin covered skull, or by stimulation on soft tissue such as the neck. It is not fully understood whether different stimulation sites induce the skull vibrations responsible for the perception or whether other transmission pathways are dominant. The aim of this study was to assess the correlation between intracranial pressure and skull vibration measured on the promontory for stimulation to different sites on the head. METHODS: Measurements were performed on four human cadaver heads. A bone conduction hearing aid was held in place with a 5-Newton steel headband at four locations (mastoid, forehead, eye, and neck). While stimulating in the frequency range of 0.3 to 10 kHz, acceleration of the cochlear promontory was measured with a Laser Doppler Vibrometer, and intracranial pressure at the center of the head with a hydrophone. RESULTS: Promontory acceleration and intracranial pressure was measurable for all stimulation sites. The ratios were comparable between all stimulation sites for frequencies below 2 kHz. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that both promontory acceleration and intracranial pressure are involved for stimulation on the sites investigated. The transmission pathway of sound energy is comparable for the four stimulation sites. Originally published at: Roosli, Christof; Dobrev, Ivo; Sim, Jae Hoon; Gerig, Rahel; Pfiffner, Flurin; Stenfelt, Stefan; Huber, Alexander M (2016). Intracranial pressure and promontory vibration with soft tissue stimulation in cadaveric human whole heads. Otology Neurotology, 37(9):e384-e390.

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Section: E388contrasting

confidence: 49%

Intracranial Pressure and Promontory Vibration With Soft Tissue Stimulation in Cadaveric Human Whole Heads

Röösli

Dobrev

Sim

et al. 2016

Otology &Amp; Neurotology

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“…This notion is based on the ability to cancel a BC tone by an AC tone (Stenfelt, 2007;von Békésy, 1932), the ability to generate distortion-product otoacoustic emissions using BC stimulation (Purcell et al, 1998;Watanabe et al, 2008), and the similarity of BM vibration pattern with AC and BC excitation (Stenfelt et al, 2003a). However, the way the sound is transmitted from the excitation position, often at the mastoid or forehead of the skull, to the inner ear and causing the BM vibration is not clarified.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Model predictions for bone conduction perception in the human

Stenfelt

2016

Hearing Research

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Five different pathways are often suggested as important for bone conducted (BC) sound: (1) sound pressure in the ear canal, (2) inertia of the middle ear ossicles, (3) inertia of the inner ear fluid, (4) compression of the inner ear space, and (5) pressure transmission from the skull interior. The relative importance of these pathways was investigated with an acousticimpedance model of the inner ear. The model incorporated data of BC generated ear canal sound pressure, middle ear ossicle motion, cochlear promontory vibration, and intracranial sound pressure. With BC stimulation at the mastoid, the inner ear inertia dominated the excitation of the cochlea but inner ear compression and middle ear inertia were within 10 dB for almost the entire frequency range of 0.1 to 10 kHz. Ear canal sound pressure gave little contribution at the low and high frequencies, but was around 15 dB below the total contribution at the mid frequencies. Intracranial sound pressure gave responses similar to the others at low frequencies, but decreased with frequency to a level of 55 dB below the total contribution at 10 kHz. When the BC inner ear model was evaluated against AC stimulation at threshold levels, the results were close up to approximately 4 kHz but deviated significantly at higher frequencies. 3 Highlights• A model for BC simulates the contribution from 5 components.• The inner ear compression and inertia and middle ear inertia are most important.• The contribution from intracranial sound pressure is insignificant at higher frequencies.• The model provides similar BM excitation for AC and BC threshold stimulation up to 4 kHz. KeywordsBone conduction, inner ear model, fluid inertia, inner ear compression, middle ear inertia

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“…Even though such measurements have been taken for many decades, the exact routes of how the sound reaches the cochlea by BC are still unclear. Pathways of sound through osseous parts of the head have been well documented [Von Bekesy, 1932;Barany, 1938;Wever and Lawrence, 1954;Tonndorf, 1966;Stenfelt, 2005], but recent work Freeman et al, 2000;Sohmer and Freeman, 2004;Watanabe et al, 2008] has revealed that non-osseous head contents such as the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) also contribute to the sound transmission in BC. Very little is known about the frequency-specific contribution of these different pathways to the hearing sensation evoked by classical measurements of clinical BC.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bone Conduction Thresholds and Skull Vibration Measured on the Teeth during Stimulation at Different Sites on the Human Head

et al. 2010

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Vibratory auditory stimulation or bone conduction (BC) reaches the inner ear through both osseous and non-osseous structures of the head, but the contribution of the different pathways of BC is still unclear. In this study, BC thresholds in response to stimulation at several different locations including the eye were assessed, while the magnitudes of skull bone vibrations were measured on the front teeth in human subjects with either normal hearing on both sides or unilateral deafness with normal hearing on the other side. The BC thresholds with stimulation at the ipsilateral mastoid and ipsilateral temporal region were lower than the BC thresholds with stimulation at the other sites, as reported by previous works. The lower thresholds with stimulation at the ipsilateral mastoid and ipsilateral temporal region matched higher amplitudes of skull bone vibrations measured on the teeth, but only at frequencies below 1 kHz. With stimulation at the eye, the thresholds were significantly higher than those with stimulation at the bony sites in the frequency range of 0.25–4 kHz. While skull bone vibrations as measured on the teeth during stimulation at the eye were low for low frequencies, significant bone vibrations were measured at 3 and 4 kHz, indicating different pathways for BC for either the soft tissue or bony site stimulation. This finding contradicts a straightforward relationship between vibrations of the skull bones and BC hearing thresholds.

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Transmission Pathways of Vibratory Stimulation as Measured by Subjective Thresholds and Distortion-Product Otoacoustic Emissions

Cited by 46 publications

References 24 publications

Intracranial Pressure and Promontory Vibration With Soft Tissue Stimulation in Cadaveric Human Whole Heads

Intracranial Pressure and Promontory Vibration With Soft Tissue Stimulation in Cadaveric Human Whole Heads

Model predictions for bone conduction perception in the human

Bone Conduction Thresholds and Skull Vibration Measured on the Teeth during Stimulation at Different Sites on the Human Head

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