title: Analysis of possible interactions of an attentional task with cochlear micromechanics.
abstract: Several contradictory studies have been published regarding the effect of selective attention on cochlear mechanics, possibly modulated through efferent pathways. Click-evoked otoacoustic emissions have been proposed as a highly sensitive tool for testing the hypothesis of such a modulation. In this study, two other types of evoked otoacoustic emissions (i.e. distortion products and stimulus frequency emissions between 1 and 4 kHz) were measured on 20 normal subjects in absence and presence of a visual selective attention task. The duration of measurements at a given frequency was short enough to eliminate possible artefacts due to long-time averaging. No significant change was observed in these signals, considered as probes of cochlear micromechanics. It is concluded that in this set of experimental conditions, selective attention has a negligible effect on peripheral sensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Biophysics Laboratory (PAM Neurosensoriel), Faculty of Medicine Lariboisière, Hospital Boucicaut, Paris, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Avan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bonfils
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003051:Cochlea / Q000502:physiology*; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D010775:Photic Stimulation