Mutual masking in the cochlea by bone conduction stimulation and by soft tissue conduction stimulation in an animal model

Cahtia Adelman; Haim Sohmer; Ronen Perez

doi:10.1515/jbcpp-2013-0057

Article

Mutual masking in the cochlea by bone conduction stimulation and by soft tissue conduction stimulation in an animal model

Cahtia Adelman , Haim Sohmer and Ronen Perez

Published/Copyright: August 27, 2013

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From the journal Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology Volume 24 Issue 3

Abstract

Background: Soft tissue conduction (STC) is a recently described mode of auditory stimulation in which vibrations induced by a clinical bone vibrator applied to soft tissue sites on the head, neck, and thorax of human subjects reach the cochlea and elicit auditory sensation. In humans, STC stimulation interacts with air conduction stimulation and with bone conduction (BC) stimulation in several ways, e.g., mutual masking.

Methods: This study investigated whether mutual masking between STC and BC stimulation can be demonstrated in an experimental animal. In fat sand rats, auditory nerve and brainstem evoked response to BC stimulation was recorded in the presence of noise masking presented by STC and vice versa.

Results: STC successfully masked BC, and BC also masked STC responses.

Conclusions: Mutual masking, now demonstrated in animals, paves the way for animal experiments to clarify the pathway between the STC stimulation sites and the cochlea.

Keywords: animal; auditory stimulation; bone conduction; cochlea; masking; soft tissue conduction

Corresponding author: Dr. Cahtia Adelman, Speech and Hearing Center, Hadassah University Medical Center, POB 12000, Jerusalem 91120, Israel, Phone: +972-2-6778656, Fax: +972-26778918; and Department of Communication Disorders, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel

Conflict of interest statement

Authors’ conflict of interest disclosure: The authors stated that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this article.

Research funding: None declared.

Employment or leadership: None declared.

Honorarium: None declared.

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Received: 2013-4-30

Accepted: 2013-7-31

Published Online: 2013-08-27

Published in Print: 2013-09-01

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/jbcpp-2013-0057

Keywords for this article

animal; auditory stimulation; bone conduction; cochlea; masking; soft tissue conduction