title: Olivocochlear efferent suppression in classical musicians.
abstract: Suppression of transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions was recorded from 29 members of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and 28 non-musician control subjects matched for age and gender. Binaural broad band noise was used as the suppressor stimulus in a forward masking paradigm. Results showed musicians to have significantly more suppression than non-musicians for both the right and left ears. Two possible explanations for this functional difference between groups are that moderately loud music serves as a sound conditioning stimulus and that music can be a mechanism for strengthening central auditory pathways which may influence the olivocochlear reflex arc. Possible explanations for this are discussed and ear, gender, and age differences within each group are examined. Additionally, middle-ear muscle reflex thresholds were found to be higher in musicians than non-musicians at some frequencies in some conditions.
authors.affiliation: Kresge Hearing Research Laboratory, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans 70112, USA. sbrash@lsuhsc.edu
authors.forename: Shanda M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Brashears
authors.forename: Thierry G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Morlet
authors.forename: Charles I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Berlin
authors.forename: Linda J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Hood
mesh_terms: D000158:Acoustic Impedance Tests; D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D003051:Cochlea / Q000502:physiology; D004525:Efferent Pathways; D005260:Female; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009847:Olivary Nucleus / Q000502:physiology; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology*; D012022:Reflex, Acoustic / Q000502:physiology*