Audiology telepractice in a clinical environment: a communication perspective.

Access to adequate hearing health care is an obstacle that many individuals face worldwide. The prospect of providing audiology services via the Internet is an attractive and viable alternative to traditional face-to-face interaction between patients and audiologists, thus affording improved access to hearing health care for traditionally underserved populations. This article details our experience of using a web-based system with wireless audiometers and videoconferencing software to administer remote audiological assessments in an active medical practice.

Trigeminal ganglion innervation of the cochlea--a retrograde transport study.

Innervation patterns of sensory nerves from the trigeminal ganglion to the cochlear blood vessels were studied using retrograde transport of wheat germ agglutinin conjugated to horseradish peroxidase. Guinea-pigs (n=7) were unilaterally implanted with an osmotic pump and a cannula for cochlear delivery of 2% or 20% wheat germ agglutinin horseradish peroxidase (Group 1), 2% wheat germ agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase followed by 100 micromol capsaicin (Group 2), or vehicle alone. Histological sections of the trigeminal ganglia, the C1 and C2 dorsal ganglia, the superior and inferior ganglia of the glossopharyngeal nerve bilaterally, the midbrain and the brainstem were obtained after 48 h of infusion.

Nitric oxide mediates capsaicin-induced increase in cochlear blood flow.

Capsaicin has been previously shown to increase cochlear blood flow (CBF) in a dose-dependent manner. The aim of this study was to define the role of nitric oxide (NO) in capsaicin-induced changes in CBF. This was investigated in the anesthetized guinea pig, utilizing laser Doppler flowmetry.