title: Experimental confirmation that vibrations at soft tissue conduction sites induce hearing by way of a new mode of auditory stimulation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A new mode of auditory stimulation has been demonstrated which is through soft tissue conduction (STC). It involves evoking auditory sensations by applying the clinical bone vibrator to the skin over soft tissue (not over bone) sites on the head and neck.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was designed to show that stimulation by STC excites the cochlea in a way similar to that of air conduction (AC) and bone conduction (BC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  It is shown here that auditory nerve brainstem evoked response (ABR) thresholds in mice and in the fat sand rat to AC, to BC and to STC stimulation are all elevated following administration of drugs (salicylic acid and furosemide) which depress the cochlear amplifier. In addition, the present study brings evidence that STC stimulation is not a variant of BC since the sound pressures recorded in the occluded external auditory canal (the occlusion effect) in response to STC are significantly smaller than that to BC stimulation, though both are of equal loudness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This new mode, STC, therefore appears to bypass the middle ear mechanisms and consequently may contribute to auditory diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Neurobiology, Institute of Medical Research, Israel.
authors.forename: Marrigje
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.forename: Ronen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Perez
authors.forename: Cahtia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Adelman
authors.forename: Shai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chordekar
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.forename: Leonid
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kriksunov
authors.forename: Haim
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sohmer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001844:Bone Conduction; D003051:Cochlea / Q000294:innervation*; D003056:Cochlear Nerve / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000294:innervation*; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; D005665:Furosemide / Q000494:pharmacology; D005849:Gerbillinae; D006309:Hearing / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D020156:Salicylic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D014732:Vibration
chemical_list: D005665:Furosemide; D020156:Salicylic Acid