Question:medium
Otoacoustic emissions arise from:
Otoacoustic emissions arise from:
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Think about which cochlear cells are motile and act as the cochlear amplifier, the basis of newborn hearing screening.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Inner hair cells
- Outer hair cells
- Organ of Corti
- Both outer and inner hair cells
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The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Otoacoustic emissions are echoes that the ear itself makes. A clinician places a small probe in the ear canal, sends in a click or tone, and a microphone picks up a faint sound coming back out a few milliseconds later. The question is which cells create that returning sound.
The cochlea uses inner hair cells to convert vibration into nerve impulses, and these are the receptors for hearing in the strict sense. The outer hair cells do something different. They physically change their length in step with the incoming sound, pushing on the basilar membrane and sharpening the cochlear response. This active movement is what makes the human ear so sensitive and frequency selective.
Because outer hair cells move, they spill mechanical energy back toward the middle ear and out through the ear canal. That energy is recorded as the otoacoustic emission. The test therefore checks whether outer hair cells are alive and working, and it is the basis of automated newborn hearing screening since it needs no patient cooperation.
Inner hair cells feed the auditory nerve but do not generate the emission. The organ of Corti is the umbrella structure, not the precise source. A combined inner-plus-outer answer is incorrect because the emission is purely an outer hair cell phenomenon.
\[\boxed{\text{Outer hair cells}}\]
The cochlea uses inner hair cells to convert vibration into nerve impulses, and these are the receptors for hearing in the strict sense. The outer hair cells do something different. They physically change their length in step with the incoming sound, pushing on the basilar membrane and sharpening the cochlear response. This active movement is what makes the human ear so sensitive and frequency selective.
Because outer hair cells move, they spill mechanical energy back toward the middle ear and out through the ear canal. That energy is recorded as the otoacoustic emission. The test therefore checks whether outer hair cells are alive and working, and it is the basis of automated newborn hearing screening since it needs no patient cooperation.
Inner hair cells feed the auditory nerve but do not generate the emission. The organ of Corti is the umbrella structure, not the precise source. A combined inner-plus-outer answer is incorrect because the emission is purely an outer hair cell phenomenon.
\[\boxed{\text{Outer hair cells}}\]
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