Research
My thesis research towards a PhD in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology involves a part of the brain used in processing sound, under supervision of Dr. Charles Liberman. This brain system consists of neurons whose cell bodies are located in the superior olivary complex and which send axons into the cochlea (inner ear), so they are called olivocochlear neurons. Of the two different basic kinds, these are located more laterally, so they are known as lateral olivocochlear (LOC) neurons.
From looking at how the LOC neurons connect to other cells inside the cochlea, it appears that their function would be to regulate transmission of information from the cochlea into the brain through the auditory nerve, a bundle of about 30,000 nerve fibers that conducts all of the information about the sounds we can hear. However, the exact function of the LOC system isn't known. Some ideas are that it may fine-tune the amount of activity that is sent up into the brain and perhaps also protect the cochlea from damage induced by loud sounds. I'm working on some experiments that will hopefully give us a little bit more information about the LOC system, by studying its effects in guinea pigs.
I haven't worked on this project for very long, so I don't have any posters or papers to post quite yet.
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Erik Larsen