Basilar membrane suppression can be altered by the sluggish medial olivocochlear reflex

Evidence

Auditory two-tone suppression is a nearly instantaneous reduction in the response of the basilar membrane to a tone or noise when a second tone or noise is presented simultaneously. … Most previous studies have measured suppression using stimuli long enough to elicit the medial olivocochlear reflex (MOCR), a sound-elicited reflex that reduces cochlear amplification or gain. It has a ˵sluggish˶ onset of approximately 25 ms. There is physiological evidence that suppression may be reduced or altered by elicitation of the MOCR. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 919

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines auditory two-tone suppression and the MOCR with its ~25 ms sluggish onset.
• XREF: Causal mechanism of cochlear gain reduction via MOCR ties to efferent/descending auditory system literature.