Model of neuro-mechanical sound filtering in the cochlea

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Little doubt seems to remain that tuning curves of acoustic-nerve fibers are narrower than corresponding distributions of mechanical amplitudes along the cochlea. Single-unit responses to trapezoidal waveforms produced in cochleas of kanamycin-treated and untreated Mongolian gerbils have brought us to the conclusion that inner and outer hair cells interact approximately in phase opposition. This finding leads to a simple model for neural sharpening of mechanical filter characteristics of the cochlea if we accept the anatomical evidence that corresponding inner and outer hair cells are separated along the cochlear spiral by the length of the spiral fibers and assume that normal inner hair cells are only slightly less sensitive than normal outer hair cells. The last assumption is controversial, but amplitude and phase predictions of the model are consistent with directly relevant neurophysiological data. The model seems to apply to units with low and medium CFs. It can be extended to higher CF units by assuming a rectification process that produces a polarity opposition between inner and outer hair cells. The extension is currently under investigation.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: