Jaro-Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology最新文献

{"title":"Analysis of miRNAs from Inner Ear Organoid-Derived Extracellular Vesicles.","authors":"Sehee Lee, Marie Kubota, Euyhyun Park, Stefan Heller, Gi Jung Im, Jiwon Chang","doi":"10.1007/s10162-025-00998-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10162-025-00998-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Permanent hearing loss primarily results from the inability of the mammalian cochlea to replace lost inner ear hair cells. However, neonatal mice exhibit a unique capacity: isolated cochlear floor cells can efficiently proliferate in vitro and form organoids that harbor new hair cells and supporting cell populations. In this study, we isolated extracellular vesicles (EVs) from organoids and analyzed the miRNAs derived from them to identify gene regulatory elements that coordinate proliferation and regeneration.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>We utilized cochlear floor cells from postnatal day two mice and optimized the culture conditions to efficiently grow organoids that exhibit progenitor properties. Next, we isolated EVs from the culture media of organoids in their proliferative state. We analyzed miRNAs contained in these EVs to identify potential regulators that drive or modulate organoid cell proliferation. The miRNA sequencing data from organoid EVs were compared with miRNAs identified in EVs obtained from the culture supernatant of P2 mouse cochlear ducts.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We identified 184 miRNAs in organoid EVs and 176 miRNAs in cochlear duct EVs. A total of 122 miRNAs differed more than twofold between these groups, with 12 miRNAs (10 upregulated and 2 downregulated in organoid EVs) exhibiting statistically significant differences. The target genes of these twelve differentially expressed miRNAs are associated with pathways related to pluripotent stem cell regulation, cell proliferation, ear development, and cell fate modulation. This indicates that the miRNAs in organoid-derived EVs may impact processes associated with cell proliferation and the generation of inner ear cell types.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our study comprehensively inventoried miRNAs contained in EVs released by growing inner ear organoids. Our differential miRNA expression analysis provides insight into regulatory mechanisms that promote cochlear floor cell proliferation and organoid formation, which could be leveraged in miRNA-based therapeutic approaches.</p>","PeriodicalId":56283,"journal":{"name":"Jaro-Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology","volume":" ","pages":"397-408"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12411388/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144644250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reduced Cochlear Implant Performance in Listeners with Single-Sided Deafness: Comparison with Bilateral Listeners.","authors":"Charlotte Jeppsen, Bob McMurray","doi":"10.1007/s10162-025-01001-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10162-025-01001-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The efficacy of the Cochlear Implant (CI) in listeners with single-sided deafness (SSD) was evaluated by comparing single-ear speech perception in SSD listeners and bilateral cochlear implant listeners (BCI).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Consonant-nucleus-consonant (CNC) speech perception scores for the CI-only ear in SSD listeners (N = 55; 36 female, 19 male) were compared to single-ear performance in age and device experience-matched BCI listeners (N = 55; 29 female, 26 male). Separate analyses examined: (1) a matched ear from the BCI listeners (for sequentially implanted BCI listeners, the first-implanted ear in sequential BCI listeners, or, for simultaneously implanted BCI listeners, the ear on the same side as the CI in the matching SSD listener), and (2) the lower-performing ear across BCI listeners. Additional models included moderators such as age, time since activation, CI usage, and etiology. A final analysis compared first and second implants for sequential BCI listeners.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>SSD listeners showed significantly lower CNC performance after controlling for age, time since activation, CI usage, and etiology. Sequential BCI listeners exhibited significantly lower CNC performance on their second ear, compared to their first ear.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Speech perception with CIs is reduced in SSD listeners compared to BCI users, likely due to blocking, where the normal-hearing ear diminishes reliance on the CI. Lower performance in the second implanted ear of sequential BCI listeners also suggests greater reliance on the more experienced ear. These findings highlight the need for additional training, resources, and support to optimize CI performance in SSD listeners, despite prior evidence of positive CNC outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":56283,"journal":{"name":"Jaro-Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology","volume":" ","pages":"477-489"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12411351/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144638809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Generational Differences in Audiometric and Self-Reported Hearing and Hearing Aid Use.","authors":"Lauren K Dillard, Lois J Matthews, Judy R Dubno","doi":"10.1007/s10162-025-00993-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10162-025-00993-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Birth cohort differences capture secular trends in population health. We aimed to determine birth cohort differences, defined by generation, in hearing-related outcomes.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Participants were from a community-based cohort study. Generation was classified according to birth year: Greatest (1901-1924), Silent (1925-1945), Baby Boom (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1980), or Millennial (1981-1996) and Gen Z (1997-2012). Primary outcomes were audiometric hearing loss, defined as a worse ear pure-tone average (PTA) of thresholds at frequencies 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 kHz > 25 dB HL, and self-reported hearing difficulty, defined as a score ≥ 6 on the Revised Hearing Handicap Inventory (RHHI). Analyses focused on hearing aid use included only participants with audiometric hearing loss. We used multivariable adjusted logistic regression models to evaluate associations between generation and each outcome. Models were stratified to sex when there was evidence of effect modification.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>This cross-sectional study included 1554 participants (mean age 63.7 [SD 14.4] years; 56.8% female, 20.0% racial Minority). The prevalence of audiometric hearing loss, self-reported hearing difficulty, and hearing aid use (among participants with audiometric hearing loss) was 48.9%, 48.8%, and 22.0%, respectively. Generation was associated with audiometric hearing loss in the entire sample and males only. Generation was not consistently associated with self-reported hearing difficulty or hearing aid use.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>More recent generations had lower prevalence of audiometric hearing loss. There were no generational differences in self-reported hearing difficulty or hearing aid use. Secular hearing-related trends can inform accurate projections of the burden of hearing loss and health care utilization.</p>","PeriodicalId":56283,"journal":{"name":"Jaro-Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology","volume":" ","pages":"467-476"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12411394/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144103332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Genome-Wide Association Study of Age-Related Hearing Loss in CFW Mice Identifies Multiple Genes and Loci, Including Prkag2.","authors":"Oksana Polesskaya, Ely Boussaty, Riyan Cheng, Olivia A Lamonte, Thomas Y Zhou, Eric Du, Thiago Missfeldt Sanches, Khai-Minh Nguyen, Mika Okamoto, Abraham A Palmer, Rick Friedman","doi":"10.1007/s10162-025-00994-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10162-025-00994-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is one of the most prevalent conditions affecting the elderly. ARHL is influenced by a combination of environmental and genetic factors; the identification of the genes that confer risk will aid in the prevention and treatment of ARHL. The mouse and human inner ears are functionally and genetically homologous. We used Carworth Farms White (CFW) mice to study the genetic basis of ARHL because they are genetically diverse and exhibit variability in the age of onset and severity of ARHL.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Hearing at a range of frequencies was measured using auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds in 946 male and female CFW mice at the age of 1, 6, and 10 months. We genotyped the mice using low-coverage (mean coverage 0.27 ×) whole-genome sequencing (lcWGS) followed by imputation using STITCH. To determine the accuracy of the genotypes, we sequenced 8 samples at > 30 × coverage and used those data to estimate the accuracy of lcWGS genotyping, which was > 99.5%. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for the ABR thresholds for each frequency at each age, and we also performed a GWAS for age at deafness.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We obtained genotypes at 4.18 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). The SNP heritability for traits ranged from 0 to 42%. GWAS identified 10 significant associations with ARHL that contained potential candidate genes, including Dnah11, Rapgef5, Cpne4, Prkag2, and Nek11. Genetic ablation of Prkag2 caused ARHL at high frequencies, strongly suggesting that Prkag2 is the causal gene for one of the associations.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>GWAS for ARHL in CFW outbred mice identified genetic risk factors for ARHL, including Prkag2. Our results will help to define novel therapeutic targets for the treatment and prevention of this common disorder.</p>","PeriodicalId":56283,"journal":{"name":"Jaro-Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology","volume":" ","pages":"409-426"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12411389/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144121544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Transmission of Sound to the Cochlea in Normal and Pathological Human Middle Ears.","authors":"John J Rosowski","doi":"10.1007/s10162-025-00997-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10162-025-00997-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article reviews basic and clinical research on the human middle ear. The topics include the use of temporal bones as models of the human middle ear; the integration of mechanical measurements, clinical results and middle-ear models to direct lines of inquiry; hearing with no tympanic membrane or ossicular chain; hearing after tympanic membrane replacement; the function of the tympanic membrane; and sound conduction through the ossicular chain.</p>","PeriodicalId":56283,"journal":{"name":"Jaro-Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology","volume":" ","pages":"349-368"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12411397/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144227778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Management Strategies for Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media and Why They Fail.","authors":"Nanki Hura, Anping Xia, Peter L Santa Maria","doi":"10.1007/s10162-025-00996-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10162-025-00996-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) affects up to 330 million people globally and is one of the leading causes of pediatric hearing loss. Defined by a state of chronic infection in the middle ear in the setting of a tympanic membrane perforation, CSOM is traditionally most frequently associated with infection with Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus aureus species. The current therapeutic options for CSOM include medical therapy in the form of topical antibiotics or antiseptics (i.e., boric acid, acetic acid, povo-iodine), as well as surgical intervention with tympanoplasty or tympanomastoidectomy in refractory cases. While topical fluoroquinolones have the strongest level of evidence supporting their use for CSOM treatment, they are frequently associated with long-term treatment failure. Treatment failure is secondary to the presence of persister cells in CSOM, which are antibiotic tolerant and have the potential to proliferate and gain additional antibiotic resistance. As biofilms and persister cells are not routinely tested for in clinical medicine, there is limited data on therapeutic options that may eradicate biofilms and persister cells while limiting ototoxic effects. While future research should aim to identify such ototopical treatment options, clinicians may also consider surgical intervention earlier in patients with disease refractory to topical treatment to both minimize the risk of encouraging antibiotic resistance and to maximize the ability to debride the biofilm.</p>","PeriodicalId":56283,"journal":{"name":"Jaro-Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology","volume":" ","pages":"389-396"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12411355/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144310903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Frequency Following Responses to Electric Cochlear Stimulation in an Animal Model.","authors":"Matthew L Richardson, Robert P Carlyon, Harrison W Lin, John C Middlebrooks","doi":"10.1007/s10162-025-00992-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10162-025-00992-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Present-day cochlear-implant (CI) users can achieve high levels of speech reception in quiet surroundings. Nevertheless, sensitivity to the temporal pitch of sounds is limited, which contributes to deficits in speech reception amid multiple talkers and in appreciation of musical melodies. Short-term, invasive neurophysiological studies in animals have demonstrated limitations in neural phase locking in the tonotopic range of the auditory pathway that is activated by CIs. It remains an open question, however, whether those neural limitations can account for perceptual deficits in those animal species, let alone in human CI users. For that reason, we have evaluated non-invasive recordings of phase locking from cats chronically implanted with a CI.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Ten deafened cats (eight female) were implanted with an animal version of a clinical CI array. The electrically evoked frequency following response (eFFRs) was recorded from the scalps of sedated animals at ≥ 10 weeks post-implantation. Stimuli consisted of constant-amplitude electrical pulse trains at rates from ~ 40 to 640 pulses per second.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Recordings of the eFFR demonstrated robust responses synchronized to electrical pulse trains across all stimulus rates. Analyses of eFFR amplitude and phase transfer functions confirmed that the eFFR, as with its normal-hearing counterpart, originates from multiple subcortical and cortical generators. The slopes of segments of eFFR phase transfer functions revealed stimulus-to-response latencies of generators that dominated the eFFR across restricted ranges of pulse rates. Those rate ranges must coincide with the limits of phase locking by putative generators at successive levels of the auditory neuroaxis and could inform our understanding of the limits to perceptual temporal acuity.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The eFFR demonstrated here in an animal model provides a valuable non-invasive measure of temporal processing in electric cochlear stimulation that can be related to ongoing perceptual measures in the same animals and is well-suited to evaluate novel modes of auditory prosthesis for enhancing temporal acuity.</p>","PeriodicalId":56283,"journal":{"name":"Jaro-Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology","volume":" ","pages":"427-449"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12411372/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144121535","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Inhibition of Cortical Evoked Responses to Sound Pulses by Preceding Silent Gaps.","authors":"Payam S Shabestari, Niklas K Edvall, Mikkel C Vinding, Sven Vanneste, Daniel Lundqvist, Patrick Neff, Christopher R Cederroth","doi":"10.1007/s10162-025-00999-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-025-00999-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The basic principle of sensorimotor gating (SMG) relies on the ability of a weak lead stimulus (such as a pre-pulse) to inhibit a startling effect of a following, more intense, abrupt stimulus-the so-called pre-pulse inhibition (PPI) paradigm. PPI has been used for near half a century as a means to investigate psychiatric disorders in which its disruption is a surrogate for altered SMG in schizophrenia. However, the blinking response is very variable, making it a poor outcome measure at the individual level. Unlike PPI, which is regulated in the lateral globus pallidus from the basal ganglia, inhibition of the startle reflex by preceding silent gaps embedded in continuous background noise is processed in the auditory cortex, making it particularly suitable for measuring cortical responses.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Here, based on the behavioral gap-pre-pulse inhibition of acoustic startle (GPIAS) stemming from animal research in tinnitus research, we present a new sensory gating (SG) paradigm using source-localized magnetoencephalography (MEG) in 26 normal hearing healthy participants (13 females, 12 males, 1 other) with a mean age of 28.4 (SD <math><mrow><mo>±</mo> <mn>5.8</mn></mrow> </math> ), where we expose them to various levels of sound pulses in presence or absence of preceding silent gaps embedded in broadband carrier noises of either 60 or 70 dB SPL, using various interstimulus intervals (ISI: 0, 60, 120, 240 ms).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We evidence a near 72.5% (SD <math><mrow><mo>±</mo> <mn>15.9</mn></mrow> </math> ) suppression of N1 evoked response to a pulse as high as 90 dB(A) sound pressure level (SPL) when preceded by a 50 ms long silent gap in a 60 dB(A) SPL broadband carrier noise. Cortical inhibition was greatest with 240 ms ISI between gap and pulses, and about 1.5 times larger in the right transverse temporal gyrus when compared to the left hemisphere. While merely 68% of the individuals blinked at the highest pulse levels, cortical evoked responses were found in all participants.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Overall, we provide evidence that SG, measured by N1 cortical response to sound pulses, is reliably inhibited by preceding gaps. We propose this paradigm as an effective method to assess auditory SG through development and aging, and potentially as a method for the diagnosis of hearing disorders like tinnitus or hyperacusis.</p>","PeriodicalId":56283,"journal":{"name":"Jaro-Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144692586","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparison of Inner Ear Volume Between Humans and Sheep Using MRI.","authors":"Fabrice Micaletti, Victoire Simier, Damien Fouan, Jean-Philippe Cottier, J John Galvin, Jean-Michel Escoffre, David Bakhos","doi":"10.1007/s10162-025-01002-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-025-01002-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>In preclinical research, animals are used to perform clinical experiments. The use of large animals with human-like anatomies and structural size appears to be essential. For auditory function research, we needed to identify an animal model whose dimensions are close to those of the human inner ear for future research. In the present study, we investigated measurements of the human and sheep inner ear using 3 T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to evaluate the suitability of a sheep model for studying the inner ear.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Inner ears were compared between 8 ears from 4 normal humans (women) and 8 ears from 4 normal sheep (female). Cranial MRI of both species' cochleae were acquired and analyzed, with specific measurements for key anatomical features, including the cochlea length and width, the length and width of the inner auditory canal, the number of spiral turns of the cochlea and the cochlea volume. The size ratios between sheep and human cochlear structures were calculated and compared.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Overall cochlear dimensions of the sheep were approximately 2/3 that of human cochleae across most measurements, except for the internal auditory canal. The internal auditory canal of the sheep was 1/3 of the size of that in humans. The number of spiral turns in the cochlea was equivalent between the two species.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Given the proportionally similar dimensions to humans, the sheep cochlea appears to be a promising model for inner ear research, specifically to develop pathological models, to study the pathophysiological mechanisms of inner ear diseases, and/or to improve treatment with implantable prostheses.</p>","PeriodicalId":56283,"journal":{"name":"Jaro-Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144661126","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How Exceptional Is the Ear?","authors":"Christopher Bergevin, Dennis M Freeman, Allison Coffin","doi":"10.1007/s10162-025-00988-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10162-025-00988-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Studies of hearing often conclude that the ear is \"remarkable\" or that its performance is \"exceptional.\" Some common examples include the following: <math><mo>▹</mo></math>  the ears of mammals are encased in the hardest bone in the body; <math><mo>▹</mo></math>  the ear contains the most vascularized tissue in body; <math><mo>▹</mo></math>  the ear has the highest resting potential in the body; <math><mo>▹</mo></math>  ears have a unique \"fingerprint\"; <math><mo>▹</mo></math>  the ear can detect signals below the thermal noise floor; and <math><mo>▹</mo></math>  the ear is highly nonlinear (or highly linear, depending upon who you ask). Some claims hold up to further scrutiny, while others do not. Additionally, several claims hold for animals in one taxon, while others are shared across taxa. Most frequently, our sense of wonder results from the differences between ears as products of natural selection (over eons) and artificial systems as products of engineering design. Our goal in analyzing claims of remarkable or exceptional performance is to deepen our appreciation of these differences.</p>","PeriodicalId":56283,"journal":{"name":"Jaro-Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology","volume":" ","pages":"203-223"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12133661/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144043427","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}