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. 2022 Mar 17;12(3):400.
doi: 10.3390/brainsci12030400.

In Vivo Basilar Membrane Time Delays in Humans

Marek Polak  1 , Artur Lorens  2 , Adam Walkowiak  2 , Mariusz Furmanek  2 , Piotr Henryk Skarzynski  2 , Henryk Skarzynski  2
Affiliations

In Vivo Basilar Membrane Time Delays in Humans

Marek Polak et al. Brain Sci. .

Abstract

To date, objective measurements and psychophysical experiments have been used to measure frequency dependent basilar membrane (BM) delays in humans; however, in vivo measurements have not been made. This study aimed to measure BM delays by performing intracochlear electrocochleography in cochlear implant recipients. Sixteen subjects with various degrees of hearing abilities were selected. Postoperative Computer Tomography was performed to determine electrode locations. Electrical potentials in response to acoustic tone pips at 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz and clicks were recorded with electrodes at the frequency specific region. The electrode array was inserted up to the characteristic cochlear frequency region of 250 Hz for 6 subjects. Furthermore, the array was inserted in the region of 500 Hz for 15 subjects, and 1, 2, and 4 kHz were reached in all subjects. Intracochlear electrocochleography for each frequency-specific tone pip and clicks showed detectable responses in all subjects. The latencies differed among the cochlear location and the cochlear microphonic (CM) onset latency increased with decreasing frequency and were consistent with click derived band technique. Accordingly, BM delays in humans could be derived. The BM delays increased systematically along the cochlea from basal to apical end and were in accordance with Ruggero and Temchin, 2007.

Keywords: auditory prostheses; basilar membrane; cochlear microphonics; hearing preservation; intracochlear electrography; traveling wave delays.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure (A) Example of an estimated BM delay to a 500 Hz tone burst travelling wave. (B) Example of an intracochlear ECochG recordings (black line) and the latency when the CM reached 10% of the maximum amplitude t10% and the latency at the 1st maximum peak tmax. The grey line is the BP-filtered signal. The stimulus used was a 500 Hz tone pip applied at 0 ms. (C) Example of condensation and rarefaction stimulus recordings (grey and black line, respectively).
Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure (A) Example of an estimated BM delay to a 500 Hz tone burst travelling wave. (B) Example of an intracochlear ECochG recordings (black line) and the latency when the CM reached 10% of the maximum amplitude t10% and the latency at the 1st maximum peak tmax. The grey line is the BP-filtered signal. The stimulus used was a 500 Hz tone pip applied at 0 ms. (C) Example of condensation and rarefaction stimulus recordings (grey and black line, respectively).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The mean and standard deviation for the postoperative audiogram (squares connected with solid line) obtained at the time of the study and the measured difference between the values obtained immediately before the cochlear implant surgery and at the time of the study (squares connected dotted line) for all subjects (n = 16).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) The mean and standard deviation of the latency of the 1st CM peak (black line) and the latency when the CM reached 10% of the maximum amplitude (grey line); compared with previous work on basilar-membrane delays by Ruggero and Temchin (2007) [16]. (B) Mean (black line) and individual latencies when the CM response reached 10% of the maximum amplitude. The measured latencies of each characteristic frequency are connected with a grey line for each subject (n = 6 at 250 Hz; n = 15 at 500 Hz; n = 16 at 1–4 kHz). Dashed lines show data of three subjects with normal hearing at 125, 250 and 500 Hz. (C) Comparisons of the latencies for two different groups. Group 1 contained subjects with hearing better than or equal to the PTA (125–1000 Hz) of 75 dBHL (n = 8; n = 3 at 250 Hz; n = 8 at 500 Hz; n = 8 at 1–4 kHz). Group 2 included subjects with hearing worse than the PTA (125–1 kHz) of 75 dBHL (n = 8; n = 3 at 250 Hz; n = 7 at 500 Hz; n = 8 at 1–4 kHz).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) The mean and standard deviation of the latency of the 1st CM peak (black line) and the latency when the CM reached 10% of the maximum amplitude (grey line); compared with previous work on basilar-membrane delays by Ruggero and Temchin (2007) [16]. (B) Mean (black line) and individual latencies when the CM response reached 10% of the maximum amplitude. The measured latencies of each characteristic frequency are connected with a grey line for each subject (n = 6 at 250 Hz; n = 15 at 500 Hz; n = 16 at 1–4 kHz). Dashed lines show data of three subjects with normal hearing at 125, 250 and 500 Hz. (C) Comparisons of the latencies for two different groups. Group 1 contained subjects with hearing better than or equal to the PTA (125–1000 Hz) of 75 dBHL (n = 8; n = 3 at 250 Hz; n = 8 at 500 Hz; n = 8 at 1–4 kHz). Group 2 included subjects with hearing worse than the PTA (125–1 kHz) of 75 dBHL (n = 8; n = 3 at 250 Hz; n = 7 at 500 Hz; n = 8 at 1–4 kHz).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Example of intracochlear ECochG recordings with various loudness stimulus. The loudness perception for the largest response was at the MCL (101 dBHL; black line), the second largest response was at medium-loud (89 dBHL; dark-grey line), and the response with the lowest amplitude was at soft-medium perception (76 dBHL; light-grey line).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Mean and individual CM onset latencies to stimulus with different loudness perception to tone pip frequencies of 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz. (A) Mean and standard deviation of latencies when CM reached 10% of the maximum amplitude at soft-medium, medium-loud, and MCL loudness levels; (B) Mean and standard deviation of stimulus levels at soft-medium, medium-loud, and MCL loudness levels. (C) Individual latencies for each subject (S1–S8) when CM reached 10% of the maximum amplitude at soft-medium, medium-loud, and MCL loudness levels (n = 8).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Example of signal-front and BM group delays derived from click response. The recordings were performed from the electrodes closest to characteristic frequency of 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz. The responses to condensation and rarefaction polarity click were subtracted, then filtered. The filters used were HP filters with the cut-off frequencies equal to each characteristic frequency (i.e., trace 1 was HP-filtered with 500 Hz cut-off frequency). Grey arrows depict the BM signal front delays, and black arrows depicts the BM group delays.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The mean and standard deviation of the signal-front (grey line) and group delays (black line) derived from click response (n = 7); compared with previous work on signa-front (dashed line) and group basilar-membrane delays (dotted line) by Ruggero and Temchin (2007).
Figure 8
Figure 8
CI delay estimation. The mean and standard deviation for the latency when the CM reached 10% of the maximum amplitude and summation of the time necessary to release neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft as measured by Temchin et al., 2005 (grey line); compared with previous work on CI delay estimation by Don et al., 1998 [43] (dotted-dashed line); Murray et al., 1998 (dashed line); and Zirn et al., 2015 [5] (dotted line).
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