Parametric information about eye movements is sent to the ears.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Physiological observational study measuring ear canal oscillations during eye movements
PubMed 37988462 · doi:10.1073/pnas.2303562120
What was done
The authors recorded eye movement-related eardrum oscillations (EMREOs)—pressure changes inside the ear canal that occur alongside eye movements—to evaluate whether they carry spatial information about eye displacement and gaze position. They tested whether horizontal and vertical components could be modeled linearly to predict signals during oblique (diagonal) eye movements and whether target location could be decoded from these recordings.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical values, effect sizes, or confidence intervals. It qualitatively reports that EMREOs contain parametric information about horizontal and vertical eye displacement as well as initial and final eye positions relative to the head. Horizontal and vertical information combined linearly to accurately predict EMREOs for oblique eye movements, and target locations could be inferred from the recorded signals.
Why it matters
This demonstrates that motor signals related to gaze direction reach the peripheral auditory apparatus in a structured, parametric format. This mechanism may help the brain align auditory and visual spatial maps by imposing an eye-movement-related transfer function onto incoming sounds.
Limits
The abstract does not disclose the sample size, subject population (human or animal), trial counts, or quantitative model accuracy. In addition, the exact biological mechanism generating EMREOs remains unknown, and direct functional proof that these oscillations alter auditory perception was not established.