Reversible deafness as model of pressure damage to the VIIIth nerve.
Frequency-specific compound action potentials (CAP) of the VIIIth nerve were registered in patients in which surgery confirmed retrocochlear pathology. A different pathologic behaviour of threshold latency was encountered for 2 and 4 kHz CAP, respectively. This was due to the question of whether transmission of neural information by the acoustic nerve's fibres was blocked completely by retrocochlear pathology or not. A totally reversible hearing loss in a case of cystic arachnitis can offer a reasonable explanation.
D000200:Action Potentials; D001100:Arachnoiditis / Q000503:physiopathology; D003051:Cochlea / Q000502:physiology; D003638:Deafness / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D006801:Humans; D009463:Neuroma / Q000503:physiopathology; D010524:Peripheral Nervous System Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology; D011312:Pressure; D000159:Vestibulocochlear Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology*