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Dissection of the Auditory Bulla in Postnatal Mice: Isolation of the Middle Ear Bones and Histological Analysis
Published on: January 4, 2017
Structures that contribute to middle-ear admittance in chinchilla
John J Rosowski1, Michael E Ravicz, Jocelyn E Songer
1Eaton-Peabody of Auditory Physiology, Department of Otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, MA, USA. John_Rosowski@meei.harvard.edu
Abstract:
We describe measurements of middle-ear input admittance in chinchillas (Chinchilla lanigera) before and after various manipulations that define the contributions of different middle-ear components to function. The chinchilla's middle-ear air spaces have a large effect on the low-frequency compliance of the middle ear, and removing the influences of these spaces reveals a highly admittant tympanic membrane and ossicular chain. Measurements of the admittance of the air spaces reveal that the high-degree of segmentation of these spaces has only a small effect on the admittance. Draining the cochlea further increases the middle-ear admittance at low frequencies and removes a low-frequency (less than 300 Hz) level dependence in the admittance. Spontaneous or sound-driven contractions of the middle-ear muscles in deeply anesthetized animals were associated with significant changes in middle-ear admittance.
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