Introduction: Semicircular canal dehiscence (SCD) syndrome has been defined as a bone defect in the roof of the superior, posterior and lateral semicircular canals. We reported that three-dimension CT and MR imaging of superior SCD is rare in english literature. Case presentation: A 6-year-old boy patient presented with hearing loss and left facial nerve paresis since birth. CT and MR images de...

The inner ear is composed of the membranous labyrinth and the osseous labyrinth (1). The membranous labyrinth has two major subdivisions, a sensory portion called the sensory labyrinth and a nonsensory portion designated the nonsensory labyrinth. The sensory labyrinth lies within the petrous portion of the temporal bone. It contains two intercommunicating portions: 1) the cochlear labyrinth tha...

The semicircular canals of the inner ear constitute the organ of balance, tracking head rotation during movement and facilitating stabilisation of vision. Morphological characteristics of the canals are correlated with agility scores related to locomotion. To date, however, the relationship between canal morphology and specific locomotor behaviours, such as leaping, is unclear. Knowledge of suc...

The head direction (HD) cell signal is a representation of an animal's perceived directional heading with respect to its environment. This signal appears to originate in the vestibular system, which includes the semicircular canals and otolith organs. Preliminary studies indicate the semicircular canals provide a necessary component of the HD signal, but involvement of otolithic information in ...

The vestibular receptors in the labyrinth receive innervation from centrifugally projecting efferent fibers. The influence of these efferents on information processing by vestibular afferents in primates has not been determined. One commonly held notion is that efferent activation during large-amplitude, active head movements would result in an increase in the resting discharge rate and in a re...

OBJECTIVE To compare the use of 3D driven equilibrium (DRIVE) imaging with 3D balanced fast field echo (bFFE) imaging in the assessment of the anatomic structures of the internal auditory canal (IAC) and inner ear at 3 Tesla (T). MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty ears of 15 subjects (7 men and 8 women; age range, 22-71 years; average age, 50 years) without evidence of ear problems were examined on...

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a most common cause of dizziness and usually a self-limited disease, although a small percentage of patients suffer from a permanent form and do not respond to any treatment. This persistent form of BPPV is thought to have a different underlying pathophysiology than the generally accepted canalolithiasis theory. We investigated 5 patients who did n...

All linear accelerometers measure gravitoinertial force, which is the sum of gravitational force (tilt) and inertial force due to linear acceleration (translation). Neural strategies must exist to elicit tilt and translation responses from this ambiguous cue. To investigate these neural processes, we developed a model of human responses and simulated a number of motion paradigms used to investi...

The vertebrate vestibular system detects linear (otolith organs) and angular (semicircular canals) acceleration. The function of the otolith system is twofold, 1: perception of linear acceleration of the head, and 2: assessment of the spatial orientation of the head relative to the vector of gravity. Because of the latter function, a change of gravity will affect the vestibular input which, in ...

Sensory hair cells are the essential mechanotransducers of the inner ear, responsible not only for the transduction of sound and motion stimuli but also, remarkably, for nanomechanical amplification of sensory stimuli. Here we show that semicircular canal hair cells generate a mechanical nonlinearity in vivo that increases sensitivity to angular motion by amplification at low stimulus strengths...