A model of the hair cell-primary fiber complex

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Abstract
The proposed model consists of a chain of 3 energy reservoirs through which energy from an infinite supply is fed to a modulator which in turn drives a firing mechanism. The modulator consists of a variable permeability p that depends on instantaneous basilar displacement a through p = (a-Ao)2 for a > Ao, and p = 0 for a .ltoreq. Ao, where Ao is a constant. The firing mechanism consists of a Poisson generator (process) whose average output rate is proportional to energy flow thorugh the modulator and a classical leaky integrator neuronal model driven by the Poisson generator. The model, containing 3 fixed and 4 free parameters, was examined with respect to statistical properties of spontaneous activity, relation between overall firing rate and level of stimulation, various adaptation and recovery phenomena within time ranges from a few ms to several s, period histograms for 1- and 2-tone (phase-locked) stimulation, suppression of responses to 1 tone by subthreshold levels of another (phase-locked) tone, and neural masking. Model behavior in general was satisfactory. Deficiencies in single-cycle histograms at medium and high levels, and insufficient onset peaking in PST histograms, were attributed to the malfunctioning of 1 particular segment of the model, and a possible remedy was suggested.

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