The reaction of the guinea pig cochlea to perforations of the round window membrane with and without perilymph aspiration.

The influence of simple opening of the round window (RW) membrane and the effect of aspiration of perilymph on the electrophysiological characteristics of the cochlea was tested in guinea pigs by measurement of the compound action potentials. We found that perforations of the RW membrane failed to lead to either short-term or long-term damage in cochlear function. There was only a slight spontaneous escape of perilymph but without measurable functional loss. Additional aspiration of perilymph led to entry of air into the basal turn and to an immediate loss of function of the cochlea. This regressed within 4 weeks in the middle- and low-frequency ranges. Measurable long-term damage persisted only in the high-frequency ranges. We attribute contradictory results of other authors to methodological errors which we avoided by a specific selection of healthy animals and the development of standardized operation, recording and measurement procedures.