Vestibular effects of electrical stimulation of the cochlea. Monitored in the awake primate.

The effect of electrical stimulation of the cochlea on vestibular response was monitored in six rhesus monkeys. Eye movements and single-unit activity from the vestibular portion of the eighth nerve, vestibular nuclei, reticular formation, and abducens nucleus were observed while electrical stimulation was delivered through an implanted cochlear prosthesis. In one animal of this series, neural activity from the inferior colliculus and cochlear nuclear complex was also recorded. Electrical stimulation elicited eye-movement responses in only one animal. In the animals from which single-unit activity was recorded, no positive vestibular effects were noted. In one animal of this study, responses were elicited from auditory structures by relatively low intensities of electrical stimulation.