title: Mutual masking in the cochlea by bone conduction stimulation and by soft tissue conduction stimulation in an animal model.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Soft tissue conduction (STC) is a recently described mode of auditory stimulation in which vibrations induced by a clinical bone vibrator applied to soft tissue sites on the head, neck, and thorax of human subjects reach the cochlea and elicit auditory sensation. In humans, STC stimulation interacts with air conduction stimulation and with bone conduction (BC) stimulation in several ways, e.g., mutual masking.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study investigated whether mutual masking between STC and BC stimulation can be demonstrated in an experimental animal. In fat sand rats, auditory nerve and brainstem evoked response to BC stimulation was recorded in the presence of noise masking presented by STC and vice versa.
  
  
  RESULTS
  STC successfully masked BC, and BC also masked STC responses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mutual masking, now demonstrated in animals, paves the way for animal experiments to clarify the pathway between the STC stimulation sites and the cochlea.
authors: Cahtia
authors: C
authors: Adelman
authors: Haim
authors: H
authors: Sohmer
authors: Ronen
authors: R
authors: Perez
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D001844:Bone Conduction / Q000502:physiology*; D003051:Cochlea / Q000502:physiology*; D003056:Cochlear Nerve / Q000502:physiology; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology; D005849:Gerbillinae; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D023421:Models, Animal; D009622:Noise; D051381:Rats; D014732:Vibration