Stria vascularis in acoustic trauma.

Mechanical energy of noise destroys not only the organ of Corti, Reissner's membrane, and the basilar membrane but also the lateral wall of cochlear duct. The damage is characterized by ruptures running parallel to the attachment of the basilar membrane in the prominentia spiralis or sulcus spiralis externus. The other signs of injury after acoustic overstimulation are blisterlike detachments of the stria vascularis from the spiral ligament. The mechanism of injury is interpreted as the result of interaction of given mechanical properties of exposed tissues and of the kinetic energy of sound in narrow segments of cochlear duct.