Olivocochlear efferent suppression in classical musicians

Suppression of transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions was recorded from 29 members of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and 28 non-musician control subjects matched for age and gender. Binaural broad band noise was used as the suppressor stimulus in a forward masking paradigm. Results showed musi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of the American Academy of Audiology Vol. 14; no. 6; p. 314
Main Authors Brashears, Shanda M, Morlet, Thierry G, Berlin, Charles I, Hood, Linda J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.06.2003
Subjects
Acoustic Impedance Tests
Adult
Audiometry, Pure-Tone
Auditory Pathways - physiology
Cochlea - physiology
Efferent Pathways
Female
Hearing - physiology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Olivary Nucleus - physiology
Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous
Perceptual Masking - physiology
Reflex, Acoustic - physiology
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Summary:Suppression of transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions was recorded from 29 members of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and 28 non-musician control subjects matched for age and gender. Binaural broad band noise was used as the suppressor stimulus in a forward masking paradigm. Results showed musicians to have significantly more suppression than non-musicians for both the right and left ears. Two possible explanations for this functional difference between groups are that moderately loud music serves as a sound conditioning stimulus and that music can be a mechanism for strengthening central auditory pathways which may influence the olivocochlear reflex arc. Possible explanations for this are discussed and ear, gender, and age differences within each group are examined. Additionally, middle-ear muscle reflex thresholds were found to be higher in musicians than non-musicians at some frequencies in some conditions.
ISSN:1050-0545
DOI:10.1055/s-0040-1715747