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The Acoustic Middle Ear Muscle Reflex

  • Chapter
Auditory System

Part of the book series: Handbook of Sensory Physiology ((1534,volume 5 / 1))

Abstract

The contraction of the middle ear muscles occurs bilaterally even when elicited by an acoustic stimulus to only one ear. In animals such as cats and rabbits, both middle ear muscles, the m. tensor tympani and m. stapedius, are activated in this reflex. The threshold of the m. tensor tympani contraction is usually higher than that of the m. stapedius. In either case, the threshold is well above the threshold of hearing. In man, the contraction of the m. stapedius was first shown by Lüscher (1929) who observed the contraction visually through a small hole in the ear-drum. Only the m. stapedius seems to be activated by sound in man (Jepsen, 1955) unless the sound gives rise to a more general type of motor response such as the startle reaction (Djupesland, 1967).

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  1. Stockholm, Sweden

    Aage R. Møller

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  1. Aage R. Møller
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  1. I. Physiologisches Institut der Universität, 852 Erlangen, Universitätsstraße 17, Germany

    Wolf D. Keidel

  2. Center of Neural Sciences, Indiana Univesity, Psychology Building 320, Bloomington, 47401, Indiana, USA

    William D. Neff

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Møller, A.R. (1974). The Acoustic Middle Ear Muscle Reflex. In: Keidel, W.D., Neff, W.D. (eds) Auditory System. Handbook of Sensory Physiology, vol 5 / 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65829-7_16

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