[Latency, threshold and frequency selectivity of the crossed medial cochlear efferent pathways].

The efferent innervation of guinea pig cochleas was sectioned medially, at the level of the floor of the fourth ventricle, to study the effects of the crossed part of the medial efferent pathway on the compound action potential (CAP) masking phenomenon. Sectioning reduced CAP masking for a masker level varying with the frequency of the masker and the time elapsed between the masker onset and the probe onset. Functional properties of the crossed part of the medial efferent tracts: latency, thresholds and frequency selectivity, could be deduced from these data. This intensification of the masking phenomenon permitting the improvement of the signal to noise ratio, may thus be attributed to the crossed part of the medial efferent bundle which innervates the outer hair cells.