The eardrums move when the eyes move A multisensory effect on the mechanics of hearing

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 115; no. 6; pp. E1309 - E1318
• Main Authors: Gruters, Kurtis G., Murphy, David L. K., Jenson, Cole D., Smith, David W., Shera, Christopher A., Groh, Jennifer M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 06-02-2018
• Series: PNAS Plus
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Animals; Auditory Pathways - physiology; Biological Sciences; Brain; Brain - physiology; Cues; Ear; Ear canal; Eardrums; Ears & hearing; Eye; Eye (anatomy); Eye movements; Female; Hearing - physiology; Humans; Macaca mulatta; Male; Monkeys; Monkeys & apes; Oscillations; Photic Stimulation; PNAS Plus; Saccades - physiology; Saccadic eye movements; Sensory integration; Sensory perception; Tympanic Membrane - physiology; Visual stimuli; Visual tasks; Young Adult; saccade; reference frame; middle ear muscles; EMREO; otoacoustic emissions
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1717948115

Interactions between sensory pathways such as the visual and auditory systems are known to occur in the brain, but where they first occur is uncertain. Here, we show a multimodal interaction evident at the eardrum. Ear canal microphone measurements in humans (n = 19 ears in 16 subjects) and monkeys (n = 5 ears in three subjects) performing a saccadic eye movement task to visual targets indicated that the eardrum moves in conjunction with the eye movement. The eardrum motion was oscillatory and began as early as 10 ms before saccade onset in humans or with saccade onset in monkeys. These eardrum movements, which we dub eye movement-related eardrum oscillations (EMREOs), occurred in the absence of a sound stimulus. The amplitude and phase of the EMREOs depended on the direction and horizontal amplitude of the saccade. They lasted throughout the saccade and well into subsequent periods of steady fixation. We discuss the possibility that the mechanisms underlying EMREOs create eye movement-related binaural cues that may aid the brain in evaluating the relationship between visual and auditory stimulus locations as the eyes move.