Muscles in and around the ear as the source of “physiological noise” during auditory selective attention: A review and novel synthesis

The sensitivity of the auditory system is regulated via two major efferent pathways: the medial olivocochlear system that connects to the outer hair cells, and by the middle ear muscles—the tensor tympani and stapedius. The role of the former system in suppressing otoacoustic emissions has been extensively studied, but that of the complementary network has not. In studies of selective attention, decreases in otoacoustic emissions from contralateral stimulation have been ascribed to the medial olivocochlear system, but the acknowledged problem is that the results can be confounded by parallel muscle activity. Here, the potential role of the muscle system is examined through a wide but not exhaustive review of the selective attention literature, and the unifying hypothesis is made that the prominent “physiological noise” detected in such experiments, which is reduced during attention, is the sound produced by the muscles in proximity to the ear—including the middle ear muscles. All muscles produce low-frequency sound during contraction, but the implications for selective attention experiments—in which muscles near the ear are likely to be active—have not been adequately considered. This review and synthesis suggests that selective attention may reduce physiological noise in the ear canal by reducing the activity of muscles close to the ear. Indeed, such an experiment has already been done, but the significance of its findings have not been widely appreciated. Further sets of experiments are needed in this area.