Development of inner ear (cochlear and vestibular) function in the fetus-neonate

The development of function in the various receptors in the inner ear was studied in the neonatal rat, which is altricious with respect to hearing, using short latency evoked potentials, both auditory (ABR) and vestibular (VsEP). It was found that VsEPs could be recorded from all the vestibular end-organs by post natal day (PND) 8, whilst ABR could only be recorded from all animals on PND 14, showing the earlier onset of vestibular function in the inner ear. These results are discussed with relation to onset of inner ear function in the human fetus.