{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]],"date-time":"2026-04-22T03:01:33Z","timestamp":1776826893839,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"Acoustical Society of America (ASA)","issue":"4","content-domain":{"domain":["pubs.aip.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2007,10,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Direct acoustic stimulation of the cochlea by the sound-pressure difference between the oval and round windows (called the \u201cacoustic route\u201d) has been thought to contribute to hearing in some pathological conditions, along with the normally dominant \u201cossicular route.\u201d To determine the efficacy of this acoustic route and its constituent mechanisms in human ears, sound pressures were measured at three locations in cadaveric temporal bones [with intact and perforated tympanic membranes (TMs)]: (1) in the external ear canal lateral to the TM, PTM; (2) in the tympanic cavity lateral to the oval window, POW; and (3) near the round window, PRW. Sound transmission via the acoustic route is described by two concatenated processes: (1) coupling of sound pressure from ear canal to middle-ear cavity, HPCAV\u2261PCAV\u2215PTM, where PCAV represents the middle-ear cavity pressure, and (2) sound-pressure difference between the windows, HWPD\u2261(POW\u2212PRW)\u2215PCAV. Results show that: HPCAV depends on perforation size but not perforation location; HWPD depends on neither perforation size nor location. The results (1) provide a description of the window pressures based on measurements, (2) refute the common otological view that TM perforation location affects the \u201crelative phase of the pressures at the oval and round windows,\u201d and (3) show with an intact ossicular chain that acoustic-route transmission is substantially below ossicular-route transmission except for low frequencies with large perforations. Thus, hearing loss from TM perforations results primarily from reduction in sound coupling via the ossicular route. Some features of the frequency dependence of HPCAV and HWPD can be interpreted in terms of a structure-based lumped-element acoustic model of the perforation and middle-ear cavities.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1121\/1.2769617","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,9,26]],"date-time":"2007-09-26T22:21:15Z","timestamp":1190845275000},"page":"2135-2153","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1063\/aip-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":37,"title":["Non-ossicular signal transmission in human middle ears: Experimental assessment of the \u201cacoustic route\u201d with perforated tympanic membranes"],"prefix":"10.1121","volume":"122","author":[{"given":"Susan E.","family":"Voss","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Smith College Picker Engineering Program, , 51 College Lane, Northampton, Massachusetts 01063"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"John J.","family":"Rosowski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Eaton-Peabody Laboratory of Auditory Physiology , Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, Department of Otology and Laryngology, , Boston, Massachusetts 02115 and , Harvard-M.I.T. Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139"},{"name":"Harvard Medical School , Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, Department of Otology and Laryngology, , Boston, Massachusetts 02115 and , Harvard-M.I.T. Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139"},{"name":"Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology Program , Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, Department of Otology and Laryngology, , Boston, Massachusetts 02115 and , Harvard-M.I.T. Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Saumil N.","family":"Merchant","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Eaton-Peabody Laboratory of Auditory Physiology , Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, Department of Otology and Laryngology, , Boston, Massachusetts 02115 and , Harvard-M.I.T. Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139"},{"name":"Harvard Medical School , Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, Department of Otology and Laryngology, , Boston, Massachusetts 02115 and , Harvard-M.I.T. Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139"},{"name":"Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology Program , Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, Department of Otology and Laryngology, , Boston, Massachusetts 02115 and , Harvard-M.I.T. Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"William T.","family":"Peake","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Eaton-Peabody Laboratory of Auditory Physiology , Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, Research Laboratory of Electronics, , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, and , Harvard-M.I.T. Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139"},{"name":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, Research Laboratory of Electronics, , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, and , Harvard-M.I.T. Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139"},{"name":"Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology Program , Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, Research Laboratory of Electronics, , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, and , Harvard-M.I.T. Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"231","reference":[{"key":"2023080404554591000_c1","first-page":"13","article-title":"Zur Physik des Mittelohres und \u00fcber das H\u00f6ren bei fehlerhaftem Trommelfell (On the physics of the middle ear and hearing with a missing eardrum)","volume":"1","year":"1936","journal-title":"Akust. Z."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"301","DOI":"10.3109\/00016484709124225","article-title":"The sound pressure difference between the round and the oval windows and the artificial window of labyrinthine fenestration","volume":"35","year":"1947","journal-title":"Acta Oto-Laryngol."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c3","volume-title":"Experiments in Hearing","author":"Wever","year":"1960"},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c4","volume-title":"An Introduction to the Bootstrap","year":"1993"},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"395","DOI":"10.1016\/j.medengphy.2005.07.018","article-title":"Acoustic-structural coupled finite element analysis for sound transmission in human ear\u2014Pressure distributions","volume":"28","year":"2006","journal-title":"Med. Eng. Phys."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c6","volume-title":"Surgery of the Ear","year":"1990","edition":"4th ed."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c7","unstructured":"Lynch, T. J. (1981). Signal Processing by the Cat Middle Ear: Admittance and Transmission, Measurements and Models, Ph.D. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"136","DOI":"10.1097\/01.mao.0000176177.17636.53","article-title":"Determinants of hearing loss in perforations of the tympanic membrane","volume":"27","year":"2006","journal-title":"Otol. Neurotol."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"30","DOI":"10.1016\/0378-5955(96)00023-8","article-title":"Acoustic input impedance of the stapes and cochlea in human temporal bones","volume":"97","year":"1996","journal-title":"Hear. Res."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c10","first-page":"139","article-title":"Analysis of middle-ear mechanics and application to diseased and reconstructed ears","volume":"18","year":"1997","journal-title":"Am. J. Otol."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1177\/000348949710600110","article-title":"Mechanics of type IV tympanoplasty: Experimental findings and surgical implications","volume":"106","year":"1997","journal-title":"Ann. Otol. Rhinol. Laryngol."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"245","DOI":"10.1016\/0378-5955(92)90155-G","article-title":"Middle-ear transmission: Acoustic versus ossicular coupling in cat and human","volume":"57","year":"1992","journal-title":"Hear. Res."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c13","first-page":"59","article-title":"Physiology of the ear","volume-title":"Scott-Brown\u2019s Otolaryngology: Basic Sciences","author":"Wright","year":"1987","edition":"5th ed."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"71","DOI":"10.3109\/00016485809134729","article-title":"Uber die bedeutung der schalldrucktransformation und der schallprotektion f\u00fcr die h\u00f6rschwelle (About the importance of sound pressure transformation and the acoustic protection for the hearing threshold)","volume":"49","year":"1958","journal-title":"Acta Oto-Laryngol."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"129","DOI":"10.1001\/archotol.1968.00760060131007","article-title":"Temporal bone removal at autopsy","volume":"87","year":"1968","journal-title":"Arch. Otolaryngol."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c16","volume-title":"Pathology of the Ear","year":"1993","edition":"2nd ed."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"861","DOI":"10.1121\/1.1974730","article-title":"Acoustics of the human middle-ear air space","volume":"118","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c18","unstructured":"Voss, S. E. (1995). Is the Pressure Difference Between the Oval and Round Windows the Effective Acoustic Stimulus for the Inner Ear? Master\u2019s thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c19","unstructured":"Voss, S. E. (1998). Effects of Tympanic-Membrane Perforations on Middle-Ear Sound Transmission: Measurements, Mechanisms, and Models, Ph.D. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1602","DOI":"10.1121\/1.416062","article-title":"Is the pressure difference between the oval and round windows the effective acoustic stimulus for the cochlea","volume":"100","year":"1996","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1016\/S0378-5955(00)00177-5","article-title":"Acoustic responses of the human middle ear","volume":"150","year":"2000","journal-title":"Hear. Res."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"169","DOI":"10.1080\/000164801300043343","article-title":"How do tympanic-membrane perforations affect human middle-ear sound transmission","volume":"121","year":"2001","journal-title":"Acta Oto-Laryngol."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1432","DOI":"10.1121\/1.1394195","article-title":"Middle-ear function with tympanic-membrane perforations. I Measurements and mechanisms","volume":"110","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1445","DOI":"10.1121\/1.1394196","article-title":"Middle-ear function with tympanic-membrane perforations. II. A simple model","volume":"110","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023080404554591000_c25","volume-title":"Physiological Acoustics","year":"1954"}],"container-title":["The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/pubs.aip.org\/asa\/jasa\/article-pdf\/122\/4\/2135\/15282868\/2135_1_online.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/pubs.aip.org\/asa\/jasa\/article-pdf\/122\/4\/2135\/15282868\/2135_1_online.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,4]],"date-time":"2023-08-04T05:10:21Z","timestamp":1691125821000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/pubs.aip.org\/jasa\/article\/122\/4\/2135\/982713\/Non-ossicular-signal-transmission-in-human-middle"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2007,10,1]]},"references-count":25,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2007,10,1]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1121\/1.2769617","relation":{},"ISSN":["0001-4966","1520-8524"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0001-4966","type":"print"},{"value":"1520-8524","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published-other":{"date-parts":[[2007,10]]},"published":{"date-parts":[[2007,10,1]]}}}