Sound-Driven Motion of Human Cochlear Structures Depends on Organ of Corti Integrity
Abstract
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) was used to image and measure the passive sound-driven displacements of cochlear structures in situ through the intact round window membrane of fresh human cadaveric specimens at 12 to 30 hours postmortem. We find that the anatomical integrity of the organ of Corti (OoC) affects cochlear structural motion. OoC with high integrity (erect with supporting cells) have small osseous spiral lamina (OSL) motion. Conversely, OoC with low integrity (flattened without supporting cells) have large OSL motion. For the ratio of motion between the basilar membrane (BM) and OSL (BM/OSL), OoC with high integrity has large BM/OSL motion while a cochlear partition without OoC has small BM/OSL motion. Furthermore, the high-integrity OoC has reticular lamina surface motion that is lower than the BM, whereas low-integrity OoC has similar reticular lamina and BM motion. This relationship between OoC anatomical integrity and cochlear structural motion will have consequential effects on sound transduction.
Statement of Significance: Acoustic vibrations are transformed into neural signals within the cochlea, the mammalian organ of hearing. Our understanding of cochlear mechanics has been limited to laboratory animals, whose cochleae have significant anatomical and functional differences from humans. To bridge this gap, we imaged and recorded the motion of cochlear structures in intact human cadaveric cochlear specimens without disturbing the interior of the cochlea. We determined how the anatomical integrity of the Organ of Corti (that contains structures for sound transduction) affects cochlear structural motion.
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BibTeX
@misc{secchia2026sounddriven,
title = {{Sound-Driven Motion of Human Cochlear Structures Depends on Organ of Corti Integrity}},
author = {Paul Secchia and Christopher I. McHugh and Nam Hyun Cho and Aleksandrs Zosuls and Andrew Tubelli and Sunil Puria and Hideko Heidi Nakajima},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.19.759683},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.19.759683v1},
note = {CC BY-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Sound-Driven Motion of Human Cochlear Structures Depends on Organ of Corti Integrity
AU - Paul Secchia
AU - Christopher I. McHugh
AU - Nam Hyun Cho
AU - Aleksandrs Zosuls
AU - Andrew Tubelli
AU - Sunil Puria
AU - Hideko Heidi Nakajima
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.19.759683
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.19.759683v1
AB - Optical coherence tomography (OCT) was used to image and measure the passive sound-driven displacements of cochlear structures in situ through the intact round window membrane of fresh human cadaveric specimens at 12 to 30 hours postmortem. We find that the anatomical integrity of the organ of Corti (OoC) affects cochlear structural motion. OoC with high integrity (erect with supporting cells) have small osseous spiral lamina (OSL) motion. Conversely, OoC with low integrity (flattened without supporting cells) have large OSL motion. For the ratio of motion between the basilar membrane (BM) and OSL (BM/OSL), OoC with high integrity has large BM/OSL motion while a cochlear partition without OoC has small BM/OSL motion. Furthermore, the high-integrity OoC has reticular lamina surface motion that is lower than the BM, whereas low-integrity OoC has similar reticular lamina and BM motion. This relationship between OoC anatomical integrity and cochlear structural motion will have consequential effects on sound transduction. Statement of Significance: Acoustic vibrations are transformed into neural signals within the cochlea, the mammalian organ of hearing. Our understanding of cochlear mechanics has been limited to laboratory animals, whose cochleae have significant anatomical and functional differences from humans. To bridge this gap, we imaged and recorded the motion of cochlear structures in intact human cadaveric cochlear specimens without disturbing the interior of the cochlea. We determined how the anatomical integrity of the Organ of Corti (that contains structures for sound transduction) affects cochlear structural motion.
SN - 2692-8205
ER -