The diagnosis of Menière's disease is classically based on the triad of symptoms including fluctuating hearing loss, tinnitus and vertigo. Modifications to the electrocochleographic response have been searched as a possible help in the diagnosis. Various authors have reported a tendency for an increased ratio of the summating potential (SP) to action potential (AP) which is generally thought to be due to an enhanced SP. However, the large variability between patients has precluded any clear-cut conclusion. This dispersion of data might represent real individual differences or might be attributed to unavoidable technical variations, such as electrode placement and/or precise control of stimulus levels. As an attempt to answer this issue, we employed an animal model of experimental hydrops in which these difficulties can be overcome by chronic implantation of round-window electrodes and carefully controlling the stimulus level. In the present study, the SP and AP were monitored over several months for different frequencies and different intensities. In the early period of fluctuating thresholds at low and mid frequencies, AP amplitude varied in loose correspondence with the fluctuating audiogram. The SP amplitude also varied apparently not associated with AP or threshold changes and no consistent increase in SP was observed. At a later stage when all thresholds were elevated both SP and AP diminished. In normal ears increases in the stimulus intensity induce an augmentation of SP/AP. In hydropic ears, at the period of fluctuating thresholds, the SP/AP growth curve was at first similar to that of controls but later became very variable for different animals, but in general much larger than normal.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)