The most frequently cited sequence of events used to explain auditory sensations resulting from microwave pulses, or “microwave hearing”, starts with transduction of microwave energy to sound in the head. In this explanation, the sound is then transmitted through cranial bones, i.e., by bone conduction, to stimulate hair cells in the inner ear. Recently reported experiments with animals and humans indicate that sound conduction through bone itself is not necessary in bone-conduction hearing. Instead, sound generated inside the cranium is most efficiently transmitted through holes in the cranium that form channels to the inner ear: vestibular aqueduct, cochlear aqueduct, and/or perivascular and perineural spaces. The short latency of cochlear microphonics reported for microwave hearing and the oscillation of the microphonics at the calculated brain resonant frequency are consistent with transmission through the channels. Thus, the channels are the most likely pathway for transmission of sound to the inner ear in microwave hearing. Consideration of this transmission pathway may be useful in reconciling results from various microwave hearing experiments.
TRANSMISSION OF MICROWAVE-INDUCED INTRACRANIAL
SOUND TO THE INNER EAR IS MOST LIKELY THROUGH
RONALD L. SEAMAN
MCKESSON BIOSERVICES CORPORATION
AT WRAIR US ARMY MEDICAL RESEARCH DETACHMENT
8308 HAWKS ROAD, BUILDING 1168, BROOKS AIR FORCE BASE, TEXAS 78235 USA