Department of Otorhinolaryngology

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Otorhinolaryngology

History of the Lab

The appointment of Dr. James C. Saunders to the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Human Communication: Head and Neck Surgery in 1973 (James B. Snow, MD was then chairman) established the Auditory Research Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. During its 25-year history, the Laboratory has existed in four locations.

 

The Philadelphia General Hospital

In 1975 the Department expended $875,000 to renovate laboratory space in the Philadelphia General Hospital. This extensive research area was to serve research in the general area of Communicative Disorders and included space for auditory research. The new laboratory was functioning only 9-months when the mayor of Philadelphia (Frank Rizzo) decided to close the entire institution. It was in reality a mixed blessing. While the Laboratory was situated adjacent to Penns' Medical Center it was considered an Off-Campus site. Moreover, the research space was situated next to the City's methadone clinic, and for general security reasons it was deemed unsafe for anyone to be working after 7:00 PM! Indeed, security insisted that all women be out of the Lab by 5:30 PM. Dr. Gregory R. Bock was a Research Associate and Page Else, Dr. Rita Denny and Dr. Susan Fahrbach got their first real brush with science during this time.

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The John Morgan Building

As investigators scrambled to relocate from the PGH, space at the Medical School was at a premium. The Laboratory found itself relocated to the ground floor of the Morgan Building. The space in this Civil War era structure had not been renovated in over 75 years. Moreover, the main lab rooms had been used as animal quarters for over 80 years; first as a sheep grazing area in the 1890's and for the previous 20 years as guinea pig holding quarters. Electrical fixtures from the PGH lab were removed so that grounding sockets could be installed in the outlets of the Morgan Building lab. More serious was the guinea pig dander permeating the main laboratory rooms. Despite a thorough cleaning, for over 10 years if the doors to these rooms were inadvertently slammed, the resulting rain of dander from the ceiling pipes would send anyone with an allergic condition (especially Dr. Saunders) into a fit of sneezing.

These drawbacks were offset by the fact that the Lab was back on campus, the basement location had 4-feet of concrete under the floor (making it one of the most vibration free locations in the Medical School), and was situated in the heart of neurocience research. For almost 16 years the Laboratory functioned in this less than desirable environment with great success.  Drs Relkin, Rosowski, Kaltenback, Dear, Schneider and Schwartz completed their dissertations in this area.

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The Richards Building

The arrival of a new Department Chair (David W. Kennedy, MD) brought funds to rejuvenate the Department Research Space. The desirable aspects of the Morgan space (its low level of vibrations and location) led to the decision to renovate this area. The lab again relocated to "swing" space in the Richards Building. For 9 months in 1991-1992 seven investigators, a histologist and secretary were "jammed" into 1400 sq. ft. Somehow, everyone survived this adventure in "intimate" living.

Drs. Adler, Cohen, and Szymko worked on their dissertations at this time.

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The Otorhinolaryngology Research Suit

On September 25th, 1992 a reception marked the official opening of the Otorhinolaryngology Research Suit which housed the Auditory Research Laboratory. The complete "gutting" of this space meant that an allergic reaction to guinea pig dander was finally a thing of the past! The spacious area allowed plenty of room for all investigators to live comfortably, and since then Drs. Yvonne Szymko, Yale Cohen, Henry Adler, and Daryl Doan have completed their dissertations while Mr. Keith Duncan and Mr. Marc Eisen are currently in progress with theirs.

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History of Research

During its 25-year history the Laboratory has focused on a number of research areas including:

 

Susceptibility to Acoustic Trauma by Young Animals

Between 1973 and 1982 a series of papers appeared which asked if there was a critical period in the auditory development of mammals when the ear was particularly susceptible to damage from loud sound. The conclusion from this work was that the cochlea, immediately after it achieved adult-like structure and function was at greatest risk to damage from loud sounds. These observations were summarized in several articles.

  1. Saunders, J. C. The physiological effect of priming for audiogenic seizure in mice. The Laryngoscope, 1974, 84, 750 - 756.
  2. Saunders, J. C. & Bock, G. R.  Influence of early auditory trauma on auditory development.  In:  G. Gottlieb (Ed.),  Studies on the Development of Behavior and the Nervous System.  Vol. 4.  Early Influences.  New York:  Academic Press, 1978, 249 - 287.
  3. Saunders, J. C. & Tilney, L. G.  Species difference in susceptibility to noise exposure.  In:  R. P. Hamernik, D. Henderson & R. Salvi (Eds.), New perspectives on noise-induced hearing loss.  New York:   Raven Press, 1982, 229 - 248.
  4. Saunders, J. C. & Chen, C. -S.  Developmental periods of enhanced susceptibility to auditory trauma in laboratory animals.  In:  A. Wallace Hayes (Ed.), Toxicology of the Eye, Ear and Other Special Senses.  New York:  Raven Press, 1985, 145 - 154. 

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Frequency Resolution in the Avian Ear

From 1976 to 1980 another series of papers explored the frequency resolving power of the budgerigar (parakeet) ear. Using behavioral conditioning methods and a variety of masking paradigms, critical ratios, critical bands and psychophysical tuning curves were measured. This work demonstrated that in a narrow range of hearing, the frequency resolving power of this bird ear was as frequency selective as the mammalian ear. These observations were summarized in several places.

  1. Saunders, J. C.  The psychophysical analysis of pure-tone masking in the parakeet.  In:  S. K. Hirsch, I. J. Hirsh, D. H. Eldredge & S. R. Silverman (Eds.), Hearing and Davis:  Essays Honoring Hallowell Davis.  Washington University Press, 1976, 199 - 211.
  2. Saunders, J. C. & Henry, W. J.  The peripheral auditory system of birds:  Structural and functional contributions to auditory perception.  In:  R. J. Dooling & W. M. Hulse (Eds.), Contributions to Auditory Perception in Animals.  Collingswood, N. J.:  L. Earlbaum, 1988, 31 - 62.

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The Middle Ear

Studies of the conductive apparatus were a consistent theme of the Laboratory between 1979 and 1997.  The bulk of the middle ear efforts were directed toward elucidating the contribution of middle-ear development to the overall  development of hearing.   Using tympanometry, acoustic impedance measures, laser interferometry, and morphologic measures of middle-ear structure, the developing structure and function of the middle ear were examined in a variety of laboratory animals.  In mice, rats, and hamsters, there was clear evidence that the improving efficiency of sound transmission through the middle ear limited the rate of overall hearing maturation in these species.  The background and evidence supporting this idea has been summarized in several articles.

  1. Saunders, J. C., Kaltenbach, J. & Relkin, E. M.  The development of the middle ear.  In:  R. Romond (Ed.),  The Development of the Auditory and Vestibular System.  Academic Press, 1983, pp. 3 - 25.
  2. Saunders, J. C., Doan, D. E. & Cohen, Y. E.  The contribution of middle-ear sound conduction to auditory development.  Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 1993, 106A, 7 - 13.

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Hair Cell Structure and Function

Beginning in 1980 and continuing to the present a variety of studies have examined the structural and functional aspects of hair cells.

Early work undertaken with Dr. Lewis G. Tilney in the Department of Biology described the cytoskeletal organization of actin in chick stereocilia.  The first report of cytoskeletal damage following intense sound exposure appeared in 1982. Changes in the stiffness of guinea pig sensory hair bundles following in vitro overstimulation was undertaken with Drs. Flock and Canlon in 1985, and replicated on chick hair cells with Drs. Szymko and Nelson in 1996.  The role of intra- and exra-cellular calcium on hair bundle stiffness was reported in 1994 by Dr. Pae.  Most recently, the role of the tip links in determining relative and asymmetric hair bundle motion has been reported.  Several overviews of this hair cell work has been presented.

  1. Saunders, J. C. & Dear, S. P.  Comparative morphology of stereocilia.  In:  R. Fay and G. Gourevitch (Eds.), Essays in Hearing in Honor of E. G. Wever.  Groton, Connecticut:  Amphora Press, 1983, pp. 175 - 197. 
  2. Saunders, J. C., Schneider, M. E. & Dear, S. P.  The structure and function of actin in hair cells.  Journal of Acoustical Society of America, 1985, 78, 299 - 311. 
  3. Saunders, J. C. & Coppa, N.  The contributions of stereocilia, rootlet and cuticular plate injury to sensorineural hearing loss.  In:  M. J. Collins, T. J. Glattke & L. A. Harker (Eds.)  Sensorineural Hearing Loss:  Mechanisms, Diagnosis, Treatment. Iowa City:  University of Iowa Press, 1986, pp. 29 - 58.
  4. Saunders, J. C., Canlon, B. & Flock, A.  Mechanical changes in stereocilia following overstimulation.   In:  R. Henderson et al., (Eds.), Basic and Applied Research on Noise Induced Hearing Loss.  New York: Plenum Press, 1986, pp. 11 - 29.
  5. Saunders, J. C.  Stereocilia injury and repair.  In:  T. van de Walter & R. J. Rubin (Eds.)   The Biology of Change in Otolaryngology.  New York:  Elsevier, 1987, 319 - 330.

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Acoustic Injury and the Recovery of Function.

The effects of loud sounds on hearing is a long standing recurrent theme of the Laboratory. The work of Doug Cotanche when he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Penn in the mid 1980's paved the way for the discovery of hair cell regeneration in the chick ear.  In the late 1980s the Lab traced the replacement of hair cells over time and correlated it with the recovery of function.  Quantitative measures of functional loss and recovery have led to numerous ideas about how acoustic trauma leads to the loss and restoration of hearing in the bird ear.  The remarkable conclusion from this work is that hair cell regeneration contributes little to the recovery of function.  This conclusion is specific to the sound damaged chicken ear and attests to the complexity of this animal model.  The most recent work has demonstrated the loss and recovery of tip links on tall hair cell sensory hair bundles after exposure to intense sound. Various aspects of the acoustic injury research has been summarized in various papers.

  1. Saunders, J. C., Dear, S. P. & Schneider, M.  The anatomical consequences of acoustic trauma:  A review and tutorial.  Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1985, 78, 833 - 860.
  2. Saunders, J. C., Cohen, Y. E. & Szymko, Y. M.  The structural and functional consequences of acoustic injury in the cochlea and peripheral auditory system:  A five year update.  Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1991, 90, 136 - 146.
  3. Saunders, J. C., Doan, D. E., Cohen, Y. E., Adler, H. J. & Poje, C. P.  Recent observations on the recovery of structure and function in the sound-damaged chick ear.  In:  R. J. Salvi et al. (Eds.),  Auditory System Plasticity and Regeneration.  Thieme, New York:  1996, pp. 62 - 83.

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Lab Legacy

A professor of the History of Science at Brown University has described an interesting legacy of which the Auditory Research Laboratory is a part.  Each of the luminaries listed below were either colleagues or students of each other, and each of them, in one form or another, studied topics related to the phenomenon of hearing.  This is apparently one of the longest unbroken lines of investigators for which the scientific and philosophic interests of the preceding generation influenced the thinking of the next generation in such a way that our understanding of the biology and psychology of hearing systematically advanced over almost 200 years.  We present this without offering evidence of its authenticity, although many of the connections between these early researchers can be found in E. G. Boring's book, "A History of Experimental Psychology" (2nd Edition, Appleton-Cent.-Crofts, New York, NY:, 1950) and on various web sites referring to these individuals.

LAB LEGACY
(1801 - 1858) Johannas Muller
(1821 - 1894) Hermann von Helmholtz
(1832 - 1920) Carl Wundt
(1867 - 1927) Edward B. Titchner
(1886 - 1968) Edwin G. Boring
(1902 - 1986) Ernest G. Wever
(1941 - Present) James C. Saunders
Auditory Research Laboratory Students

 

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