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The Cochlea

The Cochlea

The cochlea is a coiled structure in the inner ear that contains hair cells—the sensory receptors of the auditory system. Sound waves are transmitted to the cochlea by small bones attached to the eardrum called the ossicles, which vibrate the oval window that leads to the inner ear. This causes fluid in the chambers of the cochlea to move, vibrating the basilar membrane.

Auditory Pathway

Auditory Pathway

Auditory pathways constitute the complex neural circuits responsible for transmitting and interpreting auditory information from the peripheral auditory system to the brain. Sound waves are initially captured by the outer ear, funneled through the ear canal, and reach the tympanic membrane (eardrum). These vibrations are transmitted via the middle ear's ossicles to the inner ear's cochlea.
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking the...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Optogenetic Stimulation of the Auditory Nerve

Optogenetic Stimulation of the Auditory Nerve

Published on: October 8, 2014

Dynamic stimulation evokes spatially focused receptive fields in bat auditory cortex.

Susanne Hoffmann¹, Gerd Schuller, Uwe Firzlaff

¹Department Biologie II der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany. hoffmann@zi.biologie.uni-muenchen.de

The European Journal of Neuroscience

|January 16, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Bats use echolocation for hunting in darkness. This study found specific auditory cortex neurons in bats that help focus their sonar beam on targets, crucial for tracking prey.

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Last Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Optogenetic Stimulation of the Auditory Nerve

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Published on: October 8, 2014

Combined Shuttle-Box Training with Electrophysiological Cortex Recording and Stimulation as a Tool to Study Perception and Learning

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Functional Imaging of Auditory Cortex in Adult Cats using High-field fMRI

Functional Imaging of Auditory Cortex in Adult Cats using High-field fMRI

Published on: February 19, 2014

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Bioacoustics
Sensory Systems

Background:

Bats navigate and hunt using echolocation, receiving a stroboscopic view of their environment.
During target approach, bats dynamically adjust echolocation calls and spatial beam focusing.
Neural mechanisms of sensory-motor interactions in bat target tracking are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate how transient changes in sound position are encoded by auditory cortex neurons in bats.
Determine the role of specific neural populations in dynamic acoustic scene analysis during target tracking.

Main Methods:

Utilized a two-tone-pulse paradigm with varied inter-aural intensity differences and inter-pulse intervals.
Conducted a passive hearing task on the bat Phyllostomus discolor.
Recorded neural responses in the auditory cortex to assess spatial receptive fields.

Main Results:

11% of auditory cortex neurons exhibited spatial receptive fields focused on frontal azimuthal positions during dynamic stimulation.
These focused receptive fields occurred with short inter-pulse intervals, suggesting a role in target tracking.
The majority of these neurons (88%) were located in the posterior dorsal auditory cortex.

Conclusions:

Specific neurons in the bat auditory cortex may be responsible for locking the sonar beam onto targets during prey pursuit.
The posterior dorsal auditory cortex appears critical for analyzing dynamic acoustic scenes.
Findings shed light on the neural basis of sophisticated sensory-motor behaviors in bats.