# Mechanisms of Oculomotor Influences on Hearing

> **NIH NIH R01** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $468,832

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Hearing is an active process that works in concert with vision. How and where the active processes in
hearing contribute to interactions with vision is presently unknown. One possibility is that these
interactions occur at the earliest stages of the auditory pathway – within the ear. Several types of physical
actuators located inside the ear, namely the middle ear muscles and outer hair cells, collectively adjust
eardrum motion and generate endogenous, subthreshold sounds known as otoacoustic emissions. We
recently discovered a new type of such sounds: eye movement-related eardrum oscillations, or EMREOs.
This discovery implicates the ear’s internal actuation systems in a form of multimodal processing.
However, the mechanism that generates EMREOs is presently unknown. Understanding this mechanism
will shed light on the functional consequences of eye movements for hearing and how hearing coordinates
with vision.
We will test the contributions of these actuators to EMREOs in an animal model, selectively interrupting
each component surgically or via local application of ototoxic substances. We will compare the results of
these studies to results obtained in human hearing loss patients suffering from middle ear muscle or outer
hair cell dysfunction. We hypothesize that the middle ear muscles and outer hair cells work in concert to
produce the EMREO, and that dysfunction of any of the actuator systems will lead to anomalies in
EMREOs. Possible perceptual consequences of such dysfunction will also be probed.
Together, these experiments will shed light on how the brain adjusts the auditory transduction system
when eye movements shift the relative alignments of the eyes and ears. That oculomotor signals occur at
the very gateway of the auditory pathway represents a fundamental shift in our understanding of the scope
and mechanisms employed in hearing, and in particular how the auditory system interfaces with the visual
system. The findings will be relevant to a variety of hearing disorders involving the ears’ internal actuators
or their top-down control, including sensorineural hearing loss and age-related hearing loss, as well as
complex sensory/cognitive syndromes such as dyslexia and autism.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10811789
- **Project number:** 5R01DC020363-03
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** JENNIFER M GROH
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $468,832
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-04-01 → 2027-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10811789

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10811789, Mechanisms of Oculomotor Influences on Hearing (5R01DC020363-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10811789. Licensed CC0.

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