2019 NHCA Annual Conference

The majority of research on middle ear muscle contractions (MEMC) has focused on its role in mediating the acoustic reflex.  However, there is growing evidence for non-acoustic elicitors of MEMC.  Recent work has established that voluntary motor behaviors such as eye closure and saccadic eye movements can reliably elicit MEMC.  Additionally, our research team recently presented preliminary evidence that incidental activity of head and neck muscles concomitant with acoustic elicitors could modulate acoustically elicited MEMC.  These results highlight that factors other than the experimental elicitor may influence the likelihood of observing an MEMC.  The aim of this study is to describe an approach for quantifying the influence of incidental motor activity on MEMC and controlling for such influences.    Results will be discussed in the context of damage-risk criteria for impulsive noise that include MEMC as a protective mechanism.