Minimally invasive surgical method to detect sound processing in the cochlear apex by optical coherence tomography

Sripriya Ramamoorthy; Yuan Zhang; Tracy Petrie; Anders Fridberger; Tianying Ren; Ruikang K. Wang; Steven L. Jacques; Alfred L. Nuttall

doi:10.1117/1.JBO.21.2.025003

2 February 2016 Minimally invasive surgical method to detect sound processing in the cochlear apex by optical coherence tomography

Sripriya Ramamoorthy, Yuan Zhang, Tracy Petrie, Anders Fridberger, Tianying Ren, Ruikang K. Wang, Steven L. Jacques, Alfred L. Nuttall

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Journal of Biomedical Optics, Vol. 21, Issue 2, 025003 (February 2016). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.21.2.025003

Abstract

Sound processing in the inner ear involves separation of the constituent frequencies along the length of the cochlea. Frequencies relevant to human speech (100 to 500 Hz) are processed in the apex region. Among mammals, the guinea pig cochlear apex processes similar frequencies and is thus relevant for the study of speech processing in the cochlea. However, the requirement for extensive surgery has challenged the optical accessibility of this area to investigate cochlear processing of signals without significant intrusion. A simple method is developed to provide optical access to the guinea pig cochlear apex in two directions with minimal surgery. Furthermore, all prior vibration measurements in the guinea pig apex involved opening an observation hole in the otic capsule, which has been questioned on the basis of the resulting changes to cochlear hydrodynamics. Here, this limitation is overcome by measuring the vibrations through the unopened otic capsule using phase-sensitive Fourier domain optical coherence tomography. The optically and surgically advanced method described here lays the foundation to perform minimally invasive investigation of speech-related signal processing in the cochlea.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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Sripriya Ramamoorthy, Yuan Zhang, Tracy Petrie, Anders Fridberger, Tianying Ren, Ruikang K. Wang, Steven L. Jacques, and Alfred L. Nuttall "Minimally invasive surgical method to detect sound processing in the cochlear apex by optical coherence tomography," Journal of Biomedical Optics 21(2), 025003 (2 February 2016). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.21.2.025003

Published: 2 February 2016

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