Abstract
This study has investigated the feasibility of 980-nm low-energy pulsed
near-infrared laser stimulation to evoke auditory responses, as well as the effects
of radiant exposure and pulse duration on auditory responses. In the experiments, a
hole was drilled in the basal turn of the cochlea in guinea pigs. An optical fiber
with a 980-nm pulsed infrared laser was inserted into the hole, orientating the
spiral ganglion cells in the cochlea. To model deafness, the tympanic membrane was
mechanically damaged. Acoustically evoked compound action potentials (ACAPs) were
recorded before and after deafness, and optically evoked compound action potentials
(OCAPs) were recorded after deafness. Similar spatial selectivity between optical
and acoustical stimulation was found. In addition, OCAP amplitudes increased with
radiant exposure, indicating a photothermal mechanism induced by optical
stimulation. Furthermore, at a fixed radiant exposure, OCAP amplitudes decreased as
pulse duration increased, suggesting that optical stimulation might be governed by
the time duration over which the energy is delivered. Thus, the current experiments
have demonstrated that a 980-nm pulsed near-infrared laser with low energy can evoke
auditory neural responses similar to those evoked by acoustical stimulation. This
approach could be used to develop optical cochlear implants.
© 2016 Optical Society of Korea
PDF Article
More Like This
Cited By
Optica participates in Crossref's Cited-By Linking service. Citing articles from Optica Publishing Group journals and other participating publishers are listed here.