A new electrode (HN-5) for CM measurement in extratympanic electrocochleography

A new electrode (HN-5) for measuring cochlear microphonics (CMs) in extratympanic (ET) electrocochleography (ECochG) has been developed. The HN-5 electrode consists of a silver wire 2 mm in diameter and 5.0 cm in length connected to a low noise cable. The HN-5 electrode showed low impedance and excellent frequency characteristics. Using the dummy ear, artefact contamination tests, such as electromagnetic induction and mechanical vibration, were performed with the HN-5 electrode and various other electrodes. In the HN-5 electrode, artifact contaminations were kept within acceptable noise levels, whereas in the smaller electrodes, the measurable artifact contaminations were larger. The CMs were measured from subjects with normal hearing. CM findings obtained using the HN-5 electrode did not differ from those obtained by transtympanic (TT) ECochG, apart from their amplitude. HN-5 overcame the major disadvantage of the ET ECochG and provided a very favourable signal-to-noise ratio, resulting in repeatable response signals averaged from the same relatively small number of samples as those of TT ECochG. This resulted in successful CM measurements of ET ECochG.