Temporal masking should not be confused with the ear's acoustic reflex, an involuntary response in the middle ear that is activated to protect the ear's delicate structures from loud sounds.
12.
Tests of auditory system ( hearing ) function include pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry, acoustic reflex, electrocochleography ( ECoG ), otoacoustic emissions ( OAE ), and the auditory brainstem response test.
13.
Individuals with normal hearing have an acoustic reflex threshold ( ART ) around 70-100 dB SPL . People with conductive hearing loss (-i . e . bad transmission in the middle ear ) have a higher acoustic reflex threshold.
14.
Individuals with normal hearing have an acoustic reflex threshold ( ART ) around 70-100 dB SPL . People with conductive hearing loss (-i . e . bad transmission in the middle ear ) have a higher acoustic reflex threshold.
15.
The pathway involved in the acoustic reflex is complex and can involve the ossicular chain ( malleus, incus and stapes ), the cochlea ( organ of hearing ), the auditory nerve, brain stem, facial nerve and other components.
16.
The MOCS response to sound is mediated through the MOC acoustic reflex pathway ( see inset ), which had been previously investigated using anterograde and retrograde labelling techniques ( Aschoff et al ., 1988; Robertson and Winter, 1988 ).
17.
This is a problem which may be caused by genetic differences, stress or ill-health, or by abnormal responses in the tensor tympani ( tonic tensor tympani syndrome ) and stapedius muscles, which function in the normal acoustic reflex response that protects the inner ear from loud sounds.
18.
It is believed that these muscles can contract to dampen the vibration of the ossicles, in order to protect the inner ear from excessively loud noise ( theory 1 ) and that they give better frequency resolution at higher frequencies by reducing the transmission of low frequencies ( theory 2 ) ( see acoustic reflex ).
19.
The "'acoustic reflex "'( also known as the stapedius reflex, middle-ear-muscles ( MEM ) reflex, attenuation reflex, or auditory reflex ) is an involuntary muscle contraction that occurs in the middle ear in response to high-intensity sound stimuli or when the person starts to vocalize.
20.
TMD fails to provide accurate estimates of ICP mostly because the acoustic impedance and its changes due to the acoustic reflex are dominantly determined by the structures and functional properties of the middle ear, and only marginally influenced by changes in ICP . A measurable acoustic phenomenon that originates in the inner ear would, at least in theory, allow for more precise assessment of the pressure of the peri-and endo-lymph, and consequently, of ICP . Otoacoustic emission ( OAE ), which is a sound generated by subtle oscillations of the endo-and perilymph caused by contractions of the outer hairy cells of the inner ear in response to a loud sound, seems to offer such a possibility.
