title: Bone-conducted auditory stimulation in unrestrained, unanesthetized animals.
abstract: A new method of eliciting auditory responses using bone-conducted stimuli was developed for use in freely-moving unanesthetized animals. In cats and rats piezoelectric materials were either bolted to or embedded within a dental acrylic skull platform. In order to produce acoustic stimulation, click and pip electrical waveforms were used to drive vibrations in the crystalline material. Responses to the crystal-elicited stimuli were compared with responses to air-coupled stimuli and were found to be virtually identical. Acoustic masking eliminated the response showing there is no significant contribution made to the responses by other sensory modalities.
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000818:Animals; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001844:Bone Conduction; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D002415:Cats; D003051:Cochlea / Q000294:innervation; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D051381:Rats