Contralateral cochlear effects of ipsilateral damage: no evidence for interaural coupling

Lesion studies of the olivocochlear efferents have suggested that feedback via this neuronal pathway normally maintains an appropriate binaural balance in excitability of the two cochlear nerves (Darrow et al., 2006). If true, a decrease in cochlear nerve output from one ear, due to conductive or sensorineural hearing loss, should change cochlear nerve response in the opposite ear via modulation in olivocochlear feedback. To investigate this putative efferent-mediated interaural coupling, we measured cochlear responses repeatedly from both ears in groups of mice for several weeks before, and for up to 5weeks after, a unilateral manipulation causing either conductive or sensorineural hearing loss. Response measures included amplitude vs. level functions for distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) and auditory brainstem responses (ABRs), evoked at 7 log-spaced frequencies. Ipsilateral manipulations included either tympanic membrane removal or an acoustic overstimulation designed to produce a reversible or irreversible threshold shift over a restricted frequency range. None of these ipsilateral manipulations produced systematic changes in contralateral cochlear responses, either at threshold or suprathreshold levels, either in ABRs or DPOAEs. Thus, we find no evidence for compensatory contralateral changes following ipsilateral hearing loss. We did, however, find evidence for age-related increases in DPOAE amplitudes as animals mature from 6 to 12weeks and evidence for a slow apical spread of noise-induced threshold shifts, which continues for several days post-exposure.