Methodological aspects of quantitative study of spiral ganglion cells

The literature contains little numerical information on the population of spiral ganglion cells from normal-hearing adults. We present a method for quantitative analysis of spiral ganglion cells. We used not only the total counts of the neurons but also divided the spiral ganglion into four segments as described by Otte et al. Nine perilymphatic perfused temporal bones from 5 adult patients with normal hearing for age were examined. The largest population of spiral ganglion cells was always in segment II and fewest in segment I. There is no correlation between the total count and the length of the cochlea.