Cochlear dead regions: myth or reality?

Let me confess before going into the topic. It has been six year I am out of touch with the audiology and recent advancements. My experiments with cochlear dead regions can be traced back to my undergrad years. That was the time when I was (matter of fact all undergraduates) feeling insufficient in providing hearing aids appropriate for the geriatric population and clients with noise induced hearing loss). One day I was reviewing articles from Scandinavian audiology and Neuroaudiology (I don't remember exact one) and happened to come across 'identifying cochlear dead regions using noise audiometry'. It was an eye opening article. I badly wanted to replicate the experiment and went and told the head of the institute (Respected Joan D' Mello). She encouraged me to think about the way I can replicate the study. I was eager to do it but don't know how I can replicate the study without the special instrument that they used. I couldn't do anything until I finished my graduation (masters). I saw a ray of hope when I spoke to Dr. Vijayalaxmi Basawaraj (one of my favorite teachers). She and I came up with the research proposal. However, when I finished my graduation I went back to my city. I wanted to do the study using conventional audiometers with the modification of stimulus presentation.  Dr. Basawaraj and met with the hearing aid manufacturer and explained about the study and what we wanted to accomplish. However, I had to drop my research due to inaccessibility to the audio department at my work place. Department was not ready to give me permission unless I include them in the study! This is the long s(ad)tory short.

Coming to the topic, my opinion about cochlear dead regions changed in the process. Finally, I questioned my self   'Do Cochlear dead regions really exists?'  Before going there let me talk about what is a cochlear dead region and what is the process of forming one?

To be continued .....