Ultrasonic electrocochleography in guinea pig

Bone-conducted ultrasonic hearing assessed by tympanic membrane vibration in living human beings

“…However, even if the perception is not accompanied with the tonotopical motions of the BM, it can be realized by directly stimulating the auditory receptor cells arranged tonotopically on the BM. The idea would be controversial but be linked with a finding from electrophysiological studies on animals [28,29] and psychoacoustic studies on human subjects [16,30] that the pitch perception of BCU seems to be realized with no amplification of the outer hair cell system, because the cochlear amplification of the outer hair cell will not occur unless the BM vibrates.…”

The effect of visual information in speech signals by bone-conducted ultrasound

“…The possibility of audible sound generation in transmission through nonlinear processes has been suggested [2][3][4]; for instance, nonlinearity in transfer from transducer to skull demodulates ultrasound into lowfrequency audible sounds [4]. In contrast, some researchers also suggested that ultrasonic perception takes place within the cochlea, with important contributions by cochlear hair cells [3,[5][6][7][8] or vestibular hair cells [9,10]. One study suggested that bone-conducted ultrasoundinduced vibration of the basilar membrane directly activated inner hair cells without outer hair cell function in the basal turn of the cochlea [8].…”

“…One study suggested that bone-conducted ultrasoundinduced vibration of the basilar membrane directly activated inner hair cells without outer hair cell function in the basal turn of the cochlea [8]. In other studies of animal models, ultrasonic perception was considered to be mediated by the inner hair cell system without enhancement by the outer hair cell system [7,11]. Although several hypotheses have been suggested, the mechanisms of ultrasonic hearing have yet to be clearly determined.…”

PIEZO2 mediates ultrasonic hearing via cochlear outer hair cells in mice

“…For example, mice vocalize at frequencies > 25 kHz and with intensities from 60 dB SPL to 100 dB SPL during certain social behaviors, including pup retrieval, male-male encounter, and malefemale courtship (2)(3)(4), which is critical for their survival and generation. Study on animal models, including mice, bats, cats, and Guinea pigs, has provided neurophysiological insights into USH (5)(6)(7)(8)(9) but lacked precise molecule identity and cell-type definition concerning ultrasonic transduction. It cannot even be excluded whether the vestibular input participates in USH, as vestibular evoked myogenic potentials recorded from patients with profound deafness suggested that certain hearing sensitivity is not from cochlear origin (10,11).…”