The medial olivocochlear reflex in children during active listening

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Spencer B Smith1, Barbara Cone

  • 1Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Arizona , Tucson , USA.

International Journal of Audiology
|March 5, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Active listening may subtly alter the medial olivocochlear (MOC) reflex in children. This study found that listening tasks, especially those with increased difficulty, slightly reduced MOC reflex strength in children.

Area of Science:

  • Auditory Neuroscience
  • Pediatric Audiology

Background:

  • The medial olivocochlear (MOC) reflex plays a role in auditory processing and protection.
  • Understanding MOC reflex modulation is crucial for pediatric auditory development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if active listening tasks influence the strength of the MOC reflex in children.
  • To explore the potential impact of listening task difficulty on MOC reflex modulation.

Main Methods:

  • Click-evoked otoacoustic emissions (CEOAEs) were measured in 15 typically developing children (8-14 years).
  • CEOAEs were recorded in quiet and during contralateral broadband noise (BBN) with varying active listening tasks focused on speech.
  • Data analysis focused on CEOAE level changes in response to contralateral acoustic stimulus (CAS) and task difficulty.

Main Results:

  • Contralateral acoustic stimulus (CAS) consistently reduced CEOAE levels compared to quiet conditions.
  • A small, systematic decrease in CEOAE levels was observed with increasing listening task difficulty.
  • These subtle effects were most prominent in the 8-18 ms latency region post-click onset.

Conclusions:

  • Active listening may subtly modulate the MOC reflex in children.
  • The observed effects of task difficulty on MOC reflex activity in children require further investigation.
  • Future research should aim to confirm and further elucidate the relationship between task difficulty and MOC reflex modulation.
Abstract

Keywords:
Click-evoked otoacoustic emissions (CEOAE)attentionauditory Stroop taskcontralateral inhibitionmedial olivocochlear (MOC) reflex

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