Abstract
The mammalian efferent medial olivo-cochlear system is known to modulate active amplification of low-level sound in the cochlea. We investigated the effect of contralateral acoustic stimulation (CAS), known to elicit efferent activity, on distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) in the gerbil and, in second approach, biased the position of the cochlear partition and hence the operating point of the cochlear amplifier periodically by a low frequency tone (5 Hz). The study focussed on the quadratic distortion product f2-f1 that is sensitive to changes in the operating point of the amplifier transfer function. During CAS, a significant increase of the amplitude of f2 -f1 was found while 2f1-f2 was less affected. Biasing by the low frequency tone resulted in a phase related amplitude modulation of f2-f1. This modulation pattern was changed pronouncedly during CAS, in dependence on the CAS-level. The current results suggest that efferent effects on DPOAEs might be produced by changes in the operating point of the cochlear amplifier and were in good agreement with a simple model based on a Boltzman function.
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