During Cochlear Implant Surgery, the right placement of the implant and the minimization of the surgical trauma to the inner ear are an important issue with recurrent fails. In this study, we reproduced, using simulation, the mechanical insertion of the implant during the surgery. This simulation allows to have a better understanding of the failing cases: excessive contact force, buckling of th...

Direct access to the whole length of the cochlear turns via endaural middle ear approach for the placement of extracochlear electrodes is severely restricted. Approximately 10 mm. of the cochlear turns are accessible, being less than a third of their length. The middle cranial fossa, the facial nerve, the internal carotid artery and the temporomandibular joint restrict the access. A further res...

Hair cells are specialized sensory epithelial cells found in the inner ear (Figure1a). Inmammals, the inner ear contains the coiled cochlea as well as the vestibular apparatus, which includes two otolith organs (the utricle and the saccule) and three semicircular canals. The cochlea and the components of the vestibular apparatus are interconnected by fluid-filled tubes that are circular and con...

The propagation of acoustic waves in the inner ear in vivo could not be quantified completely yet. This is in particular true in conjunction with the micromechanical structures of the organ of Corti, though these data are important for the explanation and discussion of clinical measurements like otoacoustic emissions and auditory brainstem responses. To access these problems a three-dimensional...

UNLABELLED The knowledge of the relations between the noble and vital structures of temporal bone is still a great challenge for the otologic surgeon. The microscopic anatomic studies of the temporal bone are one of the greatest help to prevent lesions during surgical intervention. AIM To study the anatomic correlations between the carotid canal and the cochlea, and the occurrence of dehiscen...

In mammals, environmental sounds stimulate the auditory receptor, the cochlea, via vibrations of the stapes, the innermost of the middle ear ossicles. These vibrations produce displacement waves that travel on the elongated and spirally wound basilar membrane (BM). As they travel, waves grow in amplitude, reaching a maximum and then dying out. The location of maximum BM motion is a function of ...

Cochlear implant research endeavors to optimize the spatial selectivity, threshold and dynamic range with the objective of improving the speech perception performance of the implant user. One of the ways to achieve some of these goals is by electrode design. New cochlear implant electrode designs strive to bring the electrode contacts into close proximity to the nerve fibers in the modiolus: th...

Developmental changes that influence the results of removal of afferent input on the survival of neurons of the anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN) of mice were examined with the hope of providing a suitable model for understanding the cellular and molecular basis for these developmental changes in susceptibility. We performed unilateral cochlear ablation on wild-type mice at a variety of age...

Destruction of the cochlea causes secondary changes in the central auditory pathway through transynaptic regulation. These changes appear to be mediated by an activity-dependent process and can be detected in the avian auditory system as early as 30 minutes after deafferentation. We compared the early changes in cochlear nucleus neurons following deafferentation by cochlea ablation with those s...

BACKGROUND The standard electrode array for the MED-EL MAESTRO cochlear implant system is 31 mm in length which allows an insertion angle of approximately 720 degrees . When fully inserted, this long electrode array is capable of stimulating the most apical region of the cochlea. No investigation has explored Electrically Evoked Compound Action Potential (ECAP) recordings in this region with a ...