Medial olivocochlear reflex inhibition varies by cochlear location

Evidence

The proposed MOC strategy is inspired by the contralateral MOCR but is not an accurate model of it. So far, we have disregarded that contralateral MOCR inhibition is probably stronger for apical than for basal cochlear regions (Lilaonitkul and Guinan 2009a ; Aguilar et al. 2013 ) and that there is a half-octave shift in frequency between the inhibited cochlear region and the spectrum of contralateral MOCR elicitor sound (Lilaonitkul and Guinan 2009b ). In addition, the present MOC-strategy parameters were selected ad hoc to facilitate visualization of the reported effects rather than to realistically account for the time course (Backus and Guinan 2006 ) or the magnitude (Cooper and Guinan 2006 ) of contralateral MOCR gain inhibition. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1979

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines MOCR (medial olivocochlear reflex) apical/basal gradient and the half-octave frequency shift between elicitor spectrum and inhibited region.
• QUESTION: Why is MOCR inhibition stronger apically and half-octave shifted? Mechanics worth chasing for psychoacoustic understanding.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1979