Ear Movements Research Articles

Welfare by the ear: comparing relative durations and frequencies of ear postures by using an automated tracking system in sheep

AbstractGiven the increased interest in animal emotional reactions for assessing welfare, indicators for such reactions are sought. Ear postures and movements have been found to be promising indicators of emotional states in sheep and other animals. The manual recording of ear postures, however, is very time consuming and possibly prone to a degree of inaccuracy due to the subtle and fast nature of ear movements that have to be identified. Therefore, a number of previous studies have analysed the frequency of certain ear postures relative to all ear posture changes rather than measuring the relative duration spent with different ear postures. Here, we present an automated, continuous tracking system that keeps track of small and lightweight marker balls attached to the head and ears of sheep. We measured ear postures and movements when the animals were confronted with three physical stimuli thought to differ in valence (from negative to intermediate to positive). We then compared new ear-posture definitions reflecting the real time spent with certain ear postures during stimulation with previous definitions used for video-based analyses that assessed ear-posture changes in relation to the total number of observed ear postures. In the analysis, we correlated new and previous measures both between and within experimental stimuli using residuals from mixed-effects models. We found that the new and previous definitions of ear postures and movements correlated highly. Given these high correlations and the discussed theoretical and practical advantages of the automated tracking, the new recording system can be recommended highly for assessing reactions in animals that may indicate emotional states.

Creating a comparative map of the facial nerve: A cadaveric study (LB19)

This study will explore the facial nerve through detailed dissection of the left and right sides of a male and female cadaver with respect to major facial landmarks. A map will be created using qualitative analysis in order to compare the position and variability of the nerve branches. A photo expose will demonstrate the dissections and the comparative map in order to gain a better appreciation for the location, functionality, and importance of the nerve.The facial nerve (CNVII), controls the muscles involved in facial expression, aids in the perception of taste and is involved in the production of tears. The facial nerve is composed of 10,000 neurons, 7,000 of which are directly involved in the expression of emotion. CNVII exits the skull through the stylomastoid foramen and from there, branches into five distinct rami under the parotid gland. The frontal branch controls the movement and expression of the forehead. The zygomatic branch is involved in ear movement. The buccal branch controls the movement of the upper lip, nostril, and corner of the mouth. The marginal mandibular branch is involved in depression of the lower lip and chin. And finally, the cervical branch controls the chin muscles and superficial neck muscles.Grant Funding Source: none

Valence of physical stimuli, not housing conditions, affects behaviour and frontal cortical brain activity in sheep

Modulation of short-term emotions by long-term mood is little understood but relevant to understand the affective system and of importance in respect to animal welfare: a negative mood might taint experiences, whilst a positive mood might alleviate single negative events. To induce different mood states in sheep housing conditions were varied. Fourteen ewes were group-housed in an unpredictable, stimulus-poor and 15 ewes in a predictable, stimulus-rich environment. Sheep were tested individually for mood in a behavioural cognitive bias paradigm. Also, their reactions to three physical stimuli thought to differ in their perceived valence were observed (negative: pricking, intermediate: slight pressure, positive: kneading). General behaviour, activity, ear movements and positions, and haemodynamic changes in the cortical brain were recorded during stimulations. Generalised mixed-effects models and model probabilities based on the BIC (Bayesian information criterion) were used. Only weak evidence for mood difference was found. Sheep from the unpredictable, stimulus-poor housing condition had a somewhat more negative cognitive bias, showed slightly more aversive behaviour, were slightly more active and moved their ears somewhat more. Sheep most clearly differentiated the negative from the intermediate and positive stimulus in that they exhibited more aversive behaviour, less nibbling, were more active, showed more ear movements, more forward ear postures, fewer backward ear postures, and a stronger decrease in deoxyhaemoglobin when subjected to the negative stimulus. In conclusion, sheep reacted towards stimuli according to their presumed valence but their mood was not strongly influenced by housing conditions. Therefore, behavioural reactions and cortical brain activity towards the stimuli were hardly modulated by housing conditions.

Technical note: Evaluation of an ear-attached movement sensor to record cow feeding behavior and activity

The ability to monitor dairy cow feeding behavior and activity could improve dairy herd management. A 3-dimensional accelerometer (SensOor; Agis Automatisering BV, Harmelen, the Netherlands) has been developed that can be attached to ear identification tags. Based on the principle that behavior can be identified by ear movements, a proprietary model classifies sensor data as “ruminating,” “eating,” “resting,” or “active.” The objective of the study was to evaluate this sensor on accuracy and precision. First, a pilot evaluation of agreement between 2 independent observers, recording behavior from 3 cows for a period of approximately 9h each, was performed. Second, to evaluate the sensor, the behavior of 15 cows was monitored both visually (VIS) and with the sensor (SENS), with approximately 20h of registration per cow, evenly distributed over a 24-h period, excluding milking. Cows were chosen from groups of animals in different lactation stages and parities. Each minute of SENS and VIS data was classified into 1 of 9 categories (8 behaviors and 1 transition behavior) and summarized into 4 behavioral groups, namely ruminating, eating, resting, or active, which were analyzed by calculating kappa (κ) values. For the pilot evaluation, a high level of agreement between observers was obtained, with κ values of ≥0.96 for all behavioral categories, indicating that visual observation provides a good standard. For the second trial, relationships between SENS and VIS were studied by κ values on a minute basis and Pearson correlation and concordance correlation coefficient analysis on behavior expressed as percentage of total registration time. Times spent ruminating, eating, resting, and active were 42.6, 15.9, 31.6, and 9.9% (SENS) respectively, and 42.1, 13.0, 30.0, and 14.9% (VIS), respectively. Overall κ for the comparison of SENS and VIS was substantial (0.78), with κ values of 0.85, 0.77, 0.86, and 0.47 for “ruminating,” “eating,” “resting,” and “active,” respectively. Pearson correlation and concordance correlation coefficients between SENS and VIS for “ruminating,” “eating,” “resting,” and “active” were 0.93, 0.88, 0.98, and 0.73, and 0.93, 0.75, 0.97, and 0.35, respectively. In conclusion, the results provide strong evidence that the present ear sensor technology can be used to monitor ruminating and resting behavior of freestall-housed dairy cattle. Our results also suggest that this technology shows promise for monitoring eating behavior, whereas more work is needed to determine its suitability to monitor activity of dairy cattle.

Patient satisfaction with postaural incision site.

Introduction. Controversy exists over the optimum incision placement when performing ear surgery via the postauricular approach. Little is known about the impact of incision placement on future comfort in wearing audio or visual aids or the effect on the minor auricular muscles cut in the approach. Objective. (1) To establish patient satisfaction with their postauricular surgical incision, and to establish the impact on comfort wearing hearing or visual aids. (2) To establish whether patients' voluntary ear movements were affected by surgery. Materials and Methods. In January 2014, questionnaires were sent to 81 patients who underwent mastoid surgery requiring a postauricular incision between January 2004 and December 2012. The incision placement was broadly the same for all patients as they were operated on by the same surgeon (or under his supervision). The incision is sited far posteriorly at the hairline. Results. 42 (52%) of the patients contacted responded. 80% of patients wearing glasses reported no discomfort or problems associated with their incision. 82% of patients who wear hearing aids were comfortable. Only 1 of the 5 patients who could move their ears preoperatively noticed a change afterwards. Conclusion. A hairline incision is well tolerated by most of the patients.

Orienting movements in area 9 identified by long-train ICMS

The effect of intracortical microstimulation has been studied in several cortical areas from motor to sensory areas. The frontal pole has received particular attention, and several microstimulation studies have been conducted in the frontal eye field, supplementary eye field, and the premotor ear-eye field, but no microstimulation studies concerning area 9 are currently available in the literature. In the present study, to fill up this gap, electrical microstimulation was applied to area 9 in two macaque monkeys using long-train pulses of 500-700-800 and 1,000ms, during two different experimental conditions: a spontaneous condition, while the animals were not actively fixating on a visual target, and during a visual fixation task. In these experiments, we identified backward ear movements, goal-directed eye movements, and the development of head forces. Kinematic parameters for ear and eye movements overlapped in the spontaneous condition, but they were different during the visual fixation task. In this condition, ear and eye kinematics have an opposite behavior: movement amplitude, duration, and maximal and mean velocities increase during a visual fixation task for the ear, while they decrease for the eye. Therefore, a top-down visual attention engagement could modify the kinematic parameters for these two effectors. Stimulation with the longest train durations, i.e., 800/1,000ms, evokes not only the highest eye amplitude, but also a significant development of head forces. In this research article, we propose a new vision of the frontal oculomotor fields, speculating a role for area 9 in the control of goal-directed orienting behaviors and gaze shift control.

Vocal recognition of owners by domestic cats (Felis catus)

Domestic cats have had a 10,000-year history of cohabitation with humans and seem to have the ability to communicate with humans. However, this has not been widely examined. We studied 20 domestic cats to investigate whether they could recognize their owners by using voices that called out the subjects' names, with a habituation-dishabituation method. While the owner was out of the cat's sight, we played three different strangers' voices serially, followed by the owner's voice. We recorded the cat's reactions to the voices and categorized them into six behavioral categories. In addition, ten naive raters rated the cats' response magnitudes. The cats responded to human voices not by communicative behavior (vocalization and tail movement), but by orienting behavior (ear movement and head movement). This tendency did not change even when they were called by their owners. Of the 20 cats, 15 demonstrated a lower response magnitude to the third voice than to the first voice. These habituated cats showed a significant rebound in response to the subsequent presentation of their owners' voices. This result indicates that cats are able to use vocal cues alone to distinguish between humans.

Noddy, a Mouse Harboring a Missense Mutation in Protocadherin-15, Reveals the Impact of Disrupting a Critical Interaction Site between Tip-Link Cadherins in Inner Ear Hair Cells

In hair cells of the inner ear, sound or head movement increases tension in fine filaments termed tip links, which in turn convey force to mechanosensitive ion channels to open them. Tip links are formed by a tetramer of two cadherin proteins: protocadherin 15 (PCDH15) and cadherin 23 (CDH23), which have 11 and 27 extracellular cadherin (EC) repeats, respectively. Mutations in either protein cause inner ear disorders in mice and humans. We showed recently that these two cadherins bind tip-to-tip in a "handshake" mode that involves the EC1 and EC2 repeats of both proteins. However, a paucity of appropriate animal models has slowed our understanding both of the interaction and of how mutations of residues within the predicted interface compromise tip link integrity. Here, we present noddy, a new mouse model for hereditary deafness. Identified in a forward genetic screen, noddy homozygotes lack inner ear function. Mapping and sequencing showed that noddy mutant mice harbor an isoleucine-to-asparagine (I108N) mutation in the EC1 repeat of PCDH15. Residue I108 interacts with CDH23 EC2 in the handshake and its mutation impairs the interaction in vitro. The noddy mutation allowed us to determine the consequences of blocking the handshake in vivo: tip link formation and bundle morphology are disrupted, and mechanotransduction channels fail to remain open at rest. These results offer new insights into the interaction between PCDH15 and CDH23 and help explain the etiology of human deafness linked to mutations in the tip-link interface.

Indicators of positive and negative emotions and emotional contagion in pigs

For the welfare of group-housed animals, such as pigs, the emotional state of an individual pig is relevant, but also the extent to which pen mates are affected by the distress or pleasure of other individuals, i.e. emotional contagion, a simple form of empathy. Therefore, indicators of positive and negative emotions were investigated in pigs during anticipation and experience of a rewarding (access in pairs to a compartment with straw, peat and chocolate raisins) or aversive (social isolation combined with negative, unpredictable interventions) event. Thereafter the same indicators were investigated in naive pigs during anticipation and experience of a rewarding or aversive event by their trained pen mates. Positive emotions could be indicated by play, barks and tail movements, while negative emotions could be indicated by freezing, defecating, urinating, escape attempts, high-pitched vocalizations (screams, squeals or grunt-squeals), tail low, ears back and ear movements. Salivary cortisol measurements supported these behavioral observations. During anticipation of the aversive event, naive pigs tended to show more tail low. During the aversive event, naive pigs tended to defecate more, while they played more during the rewarding event. These results suggest that pigs might be sensitive to emotional contagion, which could have implications for the welfare of group-housed pigs. Pig emotions and the process of emotional contagion merit, therefore, further research.

RECIPROCATING FRICTION SURFACE UTILIZATION TO SHELL THE KERNEL FROM THE CORN EAR

Based on relevant physical properties of the corn ear, the corn prototype was designed to achieve corn shelling with lowest losses (un-shelling) and highest shelling efficiency in proper time. The reciprocating shelling plate is investigated as friction surface that easy shell the kernel from the corn ear. This way able to reduce the corn ear movement in varies the direction consequentially rising the percentage of shelling efficiency. The shelling prototype has two segments: one to remove the kernel from ear; and a second to collect the kernels. The oscillating shelling plate is a separator that is manual-driven and can reciprocate at four levels of reciprocating stroke were changed during caring out the experiment that were regulated by changing the crank radius (4.5; 6.5; 8.5 and 10.5cm). Three levels of shelling teeth number 100; 125 and 150 and three phases of the hand revolution of pedal, namely15; 25 and 35 rpm were investigated. The clearance between the corn ear and shelling plate were 2.5; 3.0 and 3.5mm.The shelling plate speed (m/s) was recorded relative to the angular speed of connecting shelling plate with the end point of crank radius. All experiments were carried out under constant kernel and cob ear moisture content MC of 10.8% and 10.32 wb respectively. The study gives the indicator to judge and deduce that the best factors which give the highest shelling efficiency (98.0%) were found at shelling plate frequency of 1.18 Hz, 10.2 shelling displacement of point ‘P” and crank “ω t” of 3.8 radial and the highest productivity (79. 23 kg/h) was recorded at displacement of crank radius of 10.5 cm, 25mm corn shelling clearance and 0.94Hz frequency factor. Whereas, the lower value of productivity (26.8 kg/h) was found at frequency factor of shelling plate of 1.23 Hz with corresponding lower crank radius and the highest clearance values of 4.5 cm and 2.5 mm respectively.

Brief communication: MaqFACS: A muscle‐based facial movement coding system for the rhesus macaque

Over 125 years ago, Charles Darwin (1872) suggested that the only way to fully understand the form and function of human facial expression was to make comparisons with other species. Nevertheless, it has been only recently that facial expressions in humans and related primate species have been compared using systematic, anatomically based techniques. Through this approach, large-scale evolutionary and phylogenetic analyses of facial expressions, including their homology, can now be addressed. Here, the development of a muscular-based system for measuring facial movement in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) is described based on the well-known FACS (Facial Action Coding System) and ChimpFACS. These systems describe facial movement according to the action of the underlying facial musculature, which is highly conserved across primates. The coding systems are standardized; thus, their use is comparable across laboratories and study populations. In the development of MaqFACS, several species differences in the facial movement repertoire of rhesus macaques were observed in comparison with chimpanzees and humans, particularly with regard to brow movements, puckering of the lips, and ear movements. These differences do not seem to be the result of constraints imposed by morphological differences in the facial structure of these three species. It is more likely that they reflect unique specializations in the communicative repertoire of each species.

Ear movement induced by electrical cortical stimulation

Cortical areas that control ear movement have not been reported in humans. We describe a rare case in which ear auricle movement was induced by extraoperative electrical cortical stimulation. A 21-year-old man with intractable localization-related epilepsy was admitted for presurgical evaluation. Subdural electrodes were implanted over the right temporal and frontal regions. Tonic upward contraction of the left ear auricle was elicited by stimulating the subdural electrode on the posterior portion of the right superior temporal gyrus close to the end of the Sylvian fissure. No other body movements or auditory symptoms were elicited. A possible mechanism underlying this rare phenomenon is discussed.

Ear deformations in the biosonar system of horseshoe bats.

Many bat species exhibit conspicuous ear movements as part of their biosonar behaviors. The resulting transformations of the pinnae can contain rigid rotations as well as nonrigid deformations. Characteristic ear deformations are frequently observed in horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae). In these animals, the pinna changes regularly between an upright and a bent configuration. In the bent configuration, the tip of the pinna tilts forward, down, and sideways, changing the curvature of large portions of the ear surface. Entire deformation cycles can be completed in as little as 200 ms. The time-variant geometry of the pinna deformations in the greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) was captured with a stereo pair of high-speed video cameras. Landmark points were marked on the pinna with dyes that were equally visible in the video frames as in x-ray micro-CT. The CT model was matched to the locations of the landmarks in the deforming ears inferred from stereo reprojection. Numerical predictions were obtained for the acoustic behavior of ear shapes at different phases during the deformation cycle. It was found that the pinna deformations seen in the animals can produce large changes in the directivity patterns. [Work supported by NSFC (Project No. 10774092) and CSC.]

Organization of the posterior parietal cortex in galagos: I. Functional zones identified by microstimulation

We used half-second trains of intracortical microstimulation to study the functional organization of the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in prosimian galagos. These trains of current pulses evoked meaningful behaviors from the anterior, but not posterior, half of PPC. Stimulation of dorsal PPC caused contralateral forelimb movements, including defensive, hand-to-mouth, and reaching movements. Defensive and hand-to-mouth movement territories overlapped, although hand-to-mouth movements were usually evoked from more rostrolateral sites than defensive movements. Reaching movement sites were typically more caudal than defensive or hand-to-mouth movement sites. Stimulation of the most medial PPC sites evoked complex movements of forelimbs and hindlimbs. Ventral PPC commonly represented defensive face movements. Similar defensive movements, with the addition of widely opening the mouth to expose the teeth, were elicited from a small area in front of the PPC defensive face zone. Sometimes defensive face movements occurred with forelimb movements. Thus, subregions of PPC relate to different ethologically relevant categories of behavior. Most movements were initiated within 33-100 msec after stimulus onset. Face, eye blink, and ear movements were generally less delayed than forelimb movements. The present results in galagos, together with those obtained from macaque monkeys by Graziano and coworkers (Graziano et al. [2002a] Neuron 34:841-851; Cooke et al., [2003] Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 100:6163-6168), suggest that the functional involvement of the PPC in specific types of sensorimotor behavior evolved early in the course of primate evolution and that networks for complex movements involving motor and posterior parietal areas are characteristic of all primate brains.

The Vestibulo-Auricular Reflex

The mammalian orienting response to sounds consists of a gaze shift that can be a combination of head and eye movements. In animals with mobile pinnae, the ears also move. During head movements, vision is stabilized by compensatory rotations of the eyeball within the head because of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). While studying the gaze shifts made by cats to sounds, a previously uncharacterized compensatory movement was discovered. The pinnae exhibited short-latency, goal-directed movements that reached their target while the head was still moving. The pinnae maintained a fixed position in space by counter-rotating on the head with an equal but opposite velocity to the head movement. We call these compensatory ear movements the vestibulo-auricular reflex (VAR) because they shared many kinematic characteristics with the VOR. Control experiments ruled out efference copy of head position signals and acoustic tracking (audiokinetic) of the source as the cause of the response. The VAR may serve to stabilize the auditory world during head movements.

Cholesteatoma invasion into the internal auditory canal

Cholesteatoma invasion into the internal auditory canal (IAC) is rare and usually results in irreversible, complete hearing loss and facial paralysis on the affected side. This retrospective study examines the clinical characteristics of seven patients with cholesteatoma invading the IAC, analyzes possible routes of the cholesteatoma's extension and describes the surgical approaches used and patient outcome. Extension to the IAC was via the supralabyrinthine route in most patients. A subtotal petrosectomy, a translabyrinthine approach or a middle cranial fossa approach combined with radical mastoidectomy were required for the complete removal of the cholesteatoma. All seven patients presented with some preoperative facial nerve palsy. The facial nerve was decompressed in four patients and facial nerve repair was performed in three others, two by hypoglossal-facial anastomosis and one by a greater auricular nerve interposition grafting. All patients ended up with total deafness in the operate ear. At 1 year following surgery, the facial nerve function was House-Brackmann grade III in six cases and grade II in one. In conclusion, cholesteatoma invading the IAC is a separate entity with characteristic clinical presentations, require a unique surgical approach, and result in significant morbidity, such as total deafness in the operated ear and impaired facial movement.

The echolocating bat controls the direction and distance of its acoustic gaze

Echolocation is an active sensing system that depends upon the dynamic interplay between auditory information processing and adaptive motor control. The echolocating bat produces ultrasonic vocalizations and uses information contained in the returning echoes to build a three-dimensional auditory representation of its surroundings. The timing, bandwidth, and duration of echolocation signals used to probe the environment directly impact the information available to the bat's acoustic imaging system. In turn, the bat's auditory representation of space guides its actions--ear movements, head aim, flight path, and the features of subsequent sonar vocalizations. This talk will summarize the bat's adaptive vocal behavior as it engaged in complex spatial tasks. The bat's 3D flight path was recorded with high-speed stereo IR video; its sonar signals were recorded with a microphone array that permitted reconstruction of the emission pattern. The sonar emission pattern of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, is directional, but broad enough to collect echo information from objects within a 60-90 deg cone, which would enable simultaneous inspection of objects in the frontal plane. Here, we report that bats encountering a complex environment shifted the direction and distance of their sonar gaze to inspect closely spaced obstacles and targets sequentially.

Auditory-motor and cognitive aspects in area 8B of macaque monkey’s frontal cortex: a premotor ear–eye field (PEEF)

In previous reports, we showed the involvement of area 8B neurons in both spontaneous ear and eye movement and in auditory information processing. Audition-related cells responded to complex environmental stimuli, but not to pure tones, and their activity changed during visual fixation as a possible inhibitory expression of the engagement of attention. We observed auditory, auditory-motor and motor cells for both eye and ear movements. This finding suggests that area 8B may be involved in the integration of auditory input with ear and eye motor output. In this paper, we extended these previous studies by examining area 8B activity in relation to auditive orienting behaviour, as well as the ocular orientation (i.e., visual fixation) studied previously. Visual fixation led to inhibition of activity in auditory and auditory-motor cells, which suggests that attention may be involved in both, maintaining the eye position and reducing the response of these cell types. Accordingly, during a given task or natural behaviour, spatial attention seems to affect more than one sensorimotor channel simultaneously. These data add to our understanding of how the neural network, through a two-channel attentive process, accomplishes to switch between two effectors, namely eyes and ears. Considering the functional, anatomical and cytoarchitectonic differences among the frontal eye field (FEF), the supplementary eye field (SEF) and area 8B, we propose to consider area 8B as a separate premotor ear-eye field (PEEF).

Objective Tinnitus Due to Essential Palatal Tremor in a 5-Year-Old

A healthy 5-year-old male reported a clicking sound in both ears. Neurologic examination was normal except for an audible clicking noise that could be heard when within 10 cm of either ear and bilateral rapid rhythmic movements of the soft palate. All tests were normal including magnetic resonance imaging brain scan. One year after onset, his objective tinnitus and palatal tremor were no longer present.

Decision support tools for clinical diagnosis of disease in cows with suspected bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Reporting of clinically suspected cattle is currently the most common method for detecting cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Improvement of clinical diagnosis and decision-making remains crucial. A comparison of clinical patterns, consisting of 25 signs, was made between all 30 BSE cases, confirmed in Belgium before October 2002, and 272 suspected cases that were subsequently determined to be histologically, immunohistochemically, and scrapie-associated-fiber negative. Seasonality in reporting suspected cases was observed, with more cases being reported during wintertime when animals were kept indoors. The median duration of illness was 30 days. The 10 most relevant signs of BSE were kicking in the milking parlor, hypersensitivity to touch and/or sound, head shyness, panic-stricken response, reluctance to enter in the milking parlor, abnormal ear movement or carriage, increased alertness behavior, reduced milk yield, teeth grinding, and temperament change. Ataxia did not appear to be a specific sign of BSE. A classification and regression tree was constructed by using the following four features: age of the animal, year of birth, number of relevant BSE signs noted, and number of clinical signs, typical for listeriosis, noted. The model had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 85%. This approach allows the use of an interactive decision-support tool, based entirely on odds ratios, a statistic independent of disease prevalence.