The electrical response from the cochlea has been used by many investigators to study the psychophysiology of hearing, and most of the theories in vogue at the present time are based on the results of experiments in which this technic was used. For this reason the "cochlear response" has a special significance for the otologist, as his final evaluation of the various theories rests on his evaluation of the experimental technic employed.
A developmental analysis of the phenomenon is herein presented. However, the conclusions arrived at are qualified by the reservation that while the ultimate psychologic discriminations must be imposed within certain limits by the events taking place in the middle ear, the cochlea and the auditory nerve, the presence of a particular discriminatory pattern at one level does not insure its presence at higher levels.
HISTORICAL REVIEW
In 1927 Forbes, Miller and O'Connor1 reported an experiment in which they