Using Electrocochleography to Assess the Afferent Pathway in the Cochlea
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Date
2013-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Noise exposure has become a part of everyday life, but over exposure to loud daily noise may result in irreversible noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). NIHL is a result of damage to the outer hair cells (OHCs) and spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) of the cochlea- the key inner ear structures responsible for the sense of hearing. Currently, there are several diagnostic tests that are capable of detecting damage to the OHCs; however, no test exists that can detect damage or loss of SGNs. It would be desirable to have a diagnostic test to detect such damage due to the distortion effect that SGN loss can have on sound stimuli such as speech. The purpose of this study is to begin developing a diagnostic test that could be used to detect the damage or loss of SGNs over the 30-60 years of the typical span of adulthood. For the test to be viable for clinical use, it needs to be stable and consistent from one test session to the next. For the current project, every 4 weeks for a 24-week duration, the electrocochleography (EcochG) and Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) of 7 rat subjects were measured and different components (the cochlear microphonic (CM and ABR Wave V) were analyzed to assess the health of the SGNs. Our results showed that the CM-ABR Wave V ratios were statistically unchanged at each of the monthly test times. Such a finding would mean that there is the possibility that the testing could be used to assess damage or loss of SGNs in the noise-exposed human population without concern that changes detected in the test are due to random fluctuations that occur between testing sessions.
Description
Third place award in category at The Denman Undergraduate Research Forum
Keywords
Electrocochleography, Spiral ganglion neurons, Audiology, Cochlear Microphonic, Auditory Brainstem Response