Stereociliary dysfunction, a case of sensory hearing loss, recruitment, poor speech discrimination and tinnitus.
The following hypothesis is presented: A dysfunction of the hair cell cilia, either in the form of ciliary pathology or as a temporary loss of ciliary stiffness, both of which are documented, ought to lead to a partial decoupling of the involved hair cells from the tectorial membrane. Consequently, 1) energy transmission should be attenuated (= hearing loss), 2) the noise level at the hair cell input should be increased (= tinnitus) and, owing to the concomitant center-clipping of the signal waveform, 3) the input/output function should become steeper (= recruitment) and 4) the formant structure of speech should be largely destroyed (= relatively poor speech discrimination). The above signs and symptoms are characteristic of a number of acute cochlear disorders and would thus find a common explanation.
D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000473:pathology*; D006199:Hair Cells, Auditory, Inner / Q000187:drug effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007612:Kanamycin / Q000506:poisoning; D009431:Neural Conduction; D011999:Recruitment, Neurophysiological; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013680:Tectorial Membrane / Q000502:physiology; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000473:pathology*
D007612:Kanamycin