Dataset Information

Frequency-specific activation of the peripheral auditory system using optoacoustic laser stimulation.

ABSTRACT: Hearing impairment is one of the most common sensory deficits in humans. Hearing aids are helpful to patients but can have poor sound quality or transmission due to insufficient output or acoustic feedback, such as for high frequencies. Implantable devices partially overcome these issues but require surgery with limited locations for device attachment. Here, we investigate a new optoacoustic approach to vibrate the hearing organ with laser stimulation to improve frequency bandwidth, not requiring attachment to specific vibratory structures, and potentially reduce acoustic feedback. We developed a laser pulse modulation strategy and simulated its response at the umbo (1-10?kHz) based on a convolution-based model. We achieved frequency-specific activation in which non-contact laser stimulation of the umbo, as well as within the middle ear at the round window and otic capsule, induced precise shifts in the maximal vibratory response of the umbo and neural activation within the inferior colliculus of guinea pigs, corresponding to the targeted, modelled and then stimulated frequency. There was also no acoustic feedback detected from laser stimulation with our experimental setup. These findings open up the potential for using a convolution-based optoacoustic approach as a new type of laser hearing aid or middle ear implant.

SUBMITTER: Stahn P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6414650 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Frequency-specific activation of the peripheral auditory system using optoacoustic laser stimulation.

Stahn Patricia P Lim Hubert H HH Hinsberger Marius P MP Sorg Katharina K Pillong Lukas L Kannengießer Marc M Schreiter Cathleen C Foth Hans-Jochen HJ Langenbucher Achim A Schick Bernhard B Wenzel Gentiana I GI

Scientific reports 20190312 1

Hearing impairment is one of the most common sensory deficits in humans. Hearing aids are helpful to patients but can have poor sound quality or transmission due to insufficient output or acoustic feedback, such as for high frequencies. Implantable devices partially overcome these issues but require surgery with limited locations for device attachment. Here, we investigate a new optoacoustic approach to vibrate the hearing organ with laser stimulation to improve frequency bandwidth, not requirin ...[more]

PMID: 30862850

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Project description:BackgroundApproaches to predictably control neural oscillations are needed to understand their causal role in brain function in healthy or diseased states and to advance the development of neuromodulation therapies.ObjectiveWe present a closed-loop neural control and optimization framework to actively suppress or amplify low-frequency neural oscillations observed in local field potentials in real-time by using electrical stimulation. The rationale behind this control approach and our working hypothesis is that neural oscillatory activity evoked by electrical pulses can suppress or amplify spontaneous oscillations via destructive or constructive interference when the pulses are continuously delivered with appropriate amplitudes and at precise phases of the modulated oscillations in a closed-loop scheme.MethodsWe tested our hypothesis in two nonhuman primates that exhibited a robust increase in low-frequency (8-30 Hz) oscillatory power in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) following administration of the neurotoxin 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). To test our neural control approach, we targeted 8-17 Hz oscillations and used electrode arrays and electrical stimulation waveforms similar to those used in humans chronically implanted with brain stimulation systems. Stimulation parameters that maximize the suppression or amplification of neural oscillations were predicted using mathematical models of the stimulation evoked oscillations.ResultsOur neural control and optimization approach was capable of actively and robustly suppressing or amplifying oscillations in the targeted frequency band (8-17 Hz) in real-time in the studied subjects.ConclusionsThe results from this study support our hypothesis and suggest that the proposed neural control framework allows one to characterize in controlled experiments the functional role of frequency-specific neural oscillations by using electrodes and stimulation waveforms currently being employed in humans.

Dataset Information

Frequency-specific activation of the peripheral auditory system using optoacoustic laser stimulation.

Publications

Frequency-specific activation of the peripheral auditory system using optoacoustic laser stimulation.

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