[Hypothesis on acoustic receptive fields]

A hypothesis of acoustic receptive fields is studied, which is based on the fact that the cochlea of the internal ear is a wave guide with traveling waves and the resonance in the critical layer. When a harmonic sound influences the ear, the traveling wave reaches the critical layer for the corresponding frequency and generates there a train of decaying waves about 25 periods in duration, which form a steep slope of the envelope. The funnel-shaped convergence of all neurones innervating the acoustic receptors of the Corti organ along the slope of the envelope gives rise to acoustic receptive fields. The hypothesis is consistent with some other experimental data. Such an acoustic receptive field makes it possible to use the whole train of waves in the critical layer to measure the frequency of the acting sinusoidal sound with the greatest possible accuracy. Similarly, a high accuracy of recognition of short-time sound pulses is provided, which could not be explained earlier.