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Conductive Hearing Loss Induced by Experimental Middle-Ear Effusion in a Chinchilla Model Reveals Impaired Tympanic Membrane-Coupled Ossicular Chain Movement

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An Erratum to this article was published on 01 June 2013

Abstract

Otitis media with effusion (OME) occurs when fluid collects in the middle-ear space behind the tympanic membrane (TM). As a result of this effusion, sounds can become attenuated by as much as 30–40 dB, causing a conductive hearing loss (CHL). However, the exact mechanical cause of the hearing loss remains unclear. Possible causes can include altered compliance of the TM, inefficient movement of the ossicular chain, decreased compliance of the oval window-stapes footplate complex, or altered input to the oval and round window due to conduction of sound energy through middle-ear fluid. Here, we studied the contribution of TM motion and umbo velocity to a CHL caused by middle-ear effusion. Using the chinchilla as an animal model, umbo velocity (V U) and cochlear microphonic (CM) responses were measured simultaneously using sinusoidal tone pip stimuli (125 Hz–12 kHz) before and after filling the middle ear with different volumes (0.5–2.0 mL) of silicone oil (viscosity, 3.5 Poise). Concurrent increases in CM thresholds and decreases in umbo velocity were noted after the middle ear was filled with 1.0 mL or more of fluid. Across animals, completely filling the middle ear with fluid caused 20–40-dB increases in CM thresholds and 15–35-dB attenuations in umbo velocity. Clinic-standard 226-Hz tympanometry was insensitive to fluid-associated changes in CM thresholds until virtually the entire middle-ear cavity had been filled (approximately >1.5 mL). The changes in umbo velocity, CM thresholds, and tympanometry due to experimentally induced OME suggest CHL arises primarily as a result of impaired TM mobility and TM-coupled umbo motion plus additional mechanisms within the middle ear.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders (NIDCD) grant F31-DC011198, T32-NS007083, and T32-HD041697 to JLT and NIDCD R01-DC011555 to DJT. Support for the initial phases of this work was provided by the National Organization for Hearing Research (NOHR) Evie and Ron Krancer Grant in Auditory Science to DJT. We thank Drs. Eric Lupo and Kristin Uhler for their helpful comments about the experiments and manuscript and Kelsey Anbuhl and Alex Harbison for construction of Figure 1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA

    Jennifer L. Thornton, Keely M. Chevallier, Kanthaiah Koka & Daniel Tollin

  2. Neuroscience Training Program, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA

    Jennifer L. Thornton & Daniel Tollin

  3. MD Training Program, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA

    Keely M. Chevallier

  4. Department of Otolaryngology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA

    Sandra A. Gabbard & Daniel Tollin

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  1. Jennifer L. Thornton
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  2. Keely M. Chevallier
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  3. Kanthaiah Koka
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  5. Daniel Tollin
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Correspondence to Daniel Tollin.

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Thornton, J.L., Chevallier, K.M., Koka, K. et al. Conductive Hearing Loss Induced by Experimental Middle-Ear Effusion in a Chinchilla Model Reveals Impaired Tympanic Membrane-Coupled Ossicular Chain Movement. JARO 14, 451–464 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-013-0388-x

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