The Middle Ear as a Baroreceptor

Rockley, T. J.; Hawke, W. M.

doi:10.3109/00016489209137479

Cited by 29 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Some authors suggested that the special area (viz., pars flaccida) in the tympanic membrane containing elastin fibers is actually a sensor mechanism for pressure fluctuations in the middle ear [23,24]. In favor of this view, the mechanical reactions of pars flaccida in response to very little changes in the middle ear pressure, as well as to slight pressure oscillations in far infrasound range, were demonstrated by the experimental studies on animals [25,26].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

The Effects of Atmospheric Pressure Fluctuations on Human Behaviour Related to Injury Occurrences: Study on the Background of Low and Moderate Levels of Geomagnetic Activity

et al. 2012

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The effects of slight atmospheric pressure fluctuations (APFs) within two ranges of periods attributed mostly to far infrasound (3 s-120 s) and internal gravity waves (120 s-1200 s) on human behaviour related to injury occurrences, within the one-year interval, are examined. Special interest is paid to the analysis of combined effects of APFs and geomagnetic activity (GMA) attributed to low and moderate levels. The relations between the daily number of emergency transport events due to sport injuries (EEI) and daily mean of APF integral amplitudes within the two ranges (DHAI and DHAG, resp.) along with the planetary geomagnetic index Ap are analysed using the regression models based on categorization. As shown, the high DHAI is a rather strong meteorotropic factor, being of relevance to increase in the incidence of sport injuries. The high DHAG appears to be of opposite sense on the background of low DHAI, promoting the decreased EEI number. The consideration of combined effects of the APF and GMA reveals that the negative effects of high DHAI are more pronounced in combination with low Ap levels. The results are discussed from the viewpoint of the necessity of further medico-meteorological studies using databases of most disturbed geophysical conditions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

The Effects of Atmospheric Pressure Fluctuations on Human Behaviour Related to Injury Occurrences: Study on the Background of Low and Moderate Levels of Geomagnetic Activity

et al. 2012

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“…Considering the atmospheric infrasonics as an acoustic phenomenon, Green and Dunn (1968) supposed that they could affect the human body through the ear. It has been also suggested that fast variations in ambient pressure could be registered by stretch receptors in the middle ear cavity (Rockley and Hawke 1992).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric pressure fluctuations in the far infrasound range and emergency transport events coded as circulatory system diseases

et al. 2008

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This study examines whether a relation exists between rapid atmospheric pressure fluctuations, attributed to the far infrasound frequency range (APF), and a number of emergency transport events coded as circulatory system diseases (EEC). Over an entire year, the average integral amplitudes of APF in the range of periods from 3 s to 120 s over each hour (HA) were measured. Daily dynamics of HA averaged over the year revealed a wave shape with smooth increase from night to day followed by decrease from day to night. The total daily number of EEC within the city of Kiev, Ukraine, was related to the daily mean of HA (DHA) and to the ratio of HA averaged over the day time to HA averaged over the night time (Rdn), and was checked for confounding effects of classical meteorological variables through non-parametric regression algorithms. The number of EEC were significantly higher on days with high DHA (3.72-11.07 Pa, n = 87) compared to the low DHA (0.7-3.62 Pa, n = 260, p = 0.01), as well at days with low Rdn (0.21-1.64, n = 229) compared to the high Rdn (1.65-7.2, n = 118, p = 0.03). A difference between DHA and Rdn effects on the emergency events related to different categories of circulatory diseases points to a higher sensitivity of rheumatic and cerebro-vascular diseases to DHA, and ischaemic and hypertensive diseases to Rdn. Results suggest that APF could be considered as a meteorotropic factor capable of influencing circulatory system diseases.

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“…There is also physiological evidence of active regulation mechanisms in that unilateral electric stimulation of the tympanic nerve in monkey has been shown to evoke bilateral electromyographic responses from Eustachian tube muscles (Eden et al 1990). Moreover, Rockley and Hawke (1992) and Sakata et al (2009) have shown that application of lidocaine hydrochloride to anesthetize the human tympanic membrane substantially increases the behavioural threshold for detecting pressure changes across the tympanic membrane.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Flying and Low Humidity on the Admittance of the Tympanic Membrane and Middle Ear System

Morse

2013

JARO

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Many passengers experience discomfort during flight because of the effect of low humidity on the skin, eyes, throat, and nose. In this physiological study, we have investigated whether flight and low humidity also affect the tympanic membrane. From previous studies, a decrease in admittance of the tympanic membrane through drying might be expected to affect the buffering capacity of the middle ear and to disrupt automatic pressure regulation. This investigation involved an observational study onboard an aircraft combined with experiments in an environmental chamber, where the humidity could be controlled but could not be made to be as low as during flight. For the flight study, there was a linear relationship between the peak compensated static admittance of the tympanic membrane and relative humidity with a constant of proportionality of 0.00315 mmho/% relative humidity. The low humidity at cruise altitude (minimum 22.7 %) was associated with a mean decrease in admittance of about 20 % compared with measures in the airport. From the chamber study, we further found that a mean decrease in relative humidity of 23.4 % led to a significant decrease in mean admittance by 0.11 mmho [F(1,8)=18.95, P= 0.002], a decrease of 9.4 %. The order of magnitude for the effect of humidity was similar for the flight and environmental chamber studies. We conclude that admittance changes during flight were likely to have been caused by the low humidity in the aircraft cabin and that these changes may affect the automatic pressure regulation of the middle ear during descent.

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The Middle Ear as a Baroreceptor

Cited by 29 publications

References 19 publications

The Effects of Atmospheric Pressure Fluctuations on Human Behaviour Related to Injury Occurrences: Study on the Background of Low and Moderate Levels of Geomagnetic Activity

The Effects of Atmospheric Pressure Fluctuations on Human Behaviour Related to Injury Occurrences: Study on the Background of Low and Moderate Levels of Geomagnetic Activity

Atmospheric pressure fluctuations in the far infrasound range and emergency transport events coded as circulatory system diseases

The Effect of Flying and Low Humidity on the Admittance of the Tympanic Membrane and Middle Ear System

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