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Auditory System pp 363–388Cite as

Anatomy of the Descending Auditory System (Mammalian)

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Part of the book series: Handbook of Sensory Physiology ((1534,volume 5 / 1))

Abstract

In 1930 Papez showed that the olivary peduncle passed through the VIth (abducens) nucleus, crossed the midline and passed to the root of the vestibular nerve. In 1946 Rasmussen in an extensive study showed that the axons of the olivary peduncle entered the vestibular nerve, passed to the cochlear nerve and entered the organ of Corti. He assumed that these axons were part of the parasympathetic system possibly innervating blood vessels. Rasmussen (1953) later showed that this tract (the crossed olivocochlear bundle) originated in nerve cells adjacent to the medial superior olivary nucleus and that the axons reached the hair cells of the cochlea. The discovery of an efferent or descending auditory pathway was extended by Rasmussen and his colleagues in a number of vertebrate species and at a number of levels in the auditory system. Much of this work is summarized by Rasmussen in a number of general papers.

All the cited work of J. M. Harrison and some of the cited work of Drs. Feldman, Irving and Warr was supported in part by the Graduate School of Arts and Siences of Boston University, and in part by a series of grants from the National Science Foundation. The work in this chapter was supported in part by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Boston University

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  1. Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    J. M. Harrison

  2. Southborough, Massachusetts, USA

    M. E. Howe

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  1. I. Physiologisches Institut der Universität, 852 Erlangen, Universitätsstraße 17, Germany

    Wolf D. Keidel

  2. Center of Neural Sciences, Indiana Univesity, Psychology Building 320, Bloomington, 47401, Indiana, USA

    William D. Neff

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Harrison, J.M., Howe, M.E. (1974). Anatomy of the Descending Auditory System (Mammalian). In: Keidel, W.D., Neff, W.D. (eds) Auditory System. Handbook of Sensory Physiology, vol 5 / 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65829-7_11

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