Semirealistic models of the cochlea

The aim of this paper is the introduction and comparison of consistent albeit passive mechanical models for the whole cochlea. A widely used transmission line filterbank, which hydrodynamically speaking is a long wave approximation (L model), suffers from a well-known inconsistency: its main modeling assumption is not valid within the resonance region, where most of the overall excitation takes place. In the present paper two approaches to overcome this inconsistency are discussed. One model is the average pressure (AP) model by Duifhuis, the other is obtained by a combination of a long and a short wave approximation (LS model). Considerable differences between the L and the LS model are observed. All models are compared by inserting them into the full integral equation obtained from the hydrodynamic equations and the boundary conditions. Here the LS model fares better than the AP model for small damping, whereas the opposite is true for higher damping. As expected, the L model fails badly in the resonance region.