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Hair Cells

Hair Cells

Hair cells are the sensory receptors of the auditory system—they transduce mechanical sound waves into electrical energy that the nervous system can understand. Hair cells are located in the organ of Corti within the cochlea of the inner ear, between the basilar and tectorial membranes. The actual sensory receptors are called inner hair cells. The outer hair cells serve other functions, such as sound amplification in the cochlea, and are not discussed in detail here.

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...

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

The human brain perceives pitch through two primary mechanisms reflected in place theory and frequency theory. Each mechanism describes how sound waves are interpreted as specific pitches by the brain, offering insights into the intricate processes of auditory perception.
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by...

Hearing

Hearing

When we hear a sound, our nervous system is detecting sound waves—pressure waves of mechanical energy traveling through a medium. The frequency of the wave is perceived as pitch, while the amplitude is perceived as loudness.

Equilibrium and Balance

Equilibrium and Balance

The inner ear assumes dual functionalities of auditory perception and equilibrium maintenance. The vestibule is the organ responsible for balance. This organ contains mechanoreceptors, specifically hair cells, endowed with stereocilia, which aid in deciphering information regarding the position and motion of our heads. Two intrinsic components, the utricle and saccule, help perceive head position, while the semicircular canals track head movement. Neurological messages initiated in the...

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Frequency locking in auditory hair cells: Distinguishing between additive and parametric forcing.

Yuval Edri^1,2, Dolores Bozovic³, Arik Yochelis⁴

¹Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev - Beer-Sheva, Israel.

Europhysics Letters

|April 16, 2021

Summary

This study models auditory system resonance near a Hopf bifurcation. Parametric forcing reveals unique frequency locking behaviors, impacting hair cell response dynamics and offering insights into sound amplification.

Keywords:

Biological and medical physics Elasticity theory Nonlinear dynamics and chaos Sensory systems auditory olfactation tactile taste visual

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Behavioral Determination of Stimulus Pair Discrimination of Auditory Acoustic and Electrical Stimuli Using a Classical Conditioning and Heart-rate Approach

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Published on: June 6, 2012

Area of Science:

Auditory Neuroscience
Nonlinear Dynamics
Biophysics

Background:

The auditory system's sensitivity and frequency discrimination depend on mechanical and biochemical amplification processes.
Oscillatory models near a Hopf bifurcation explain sound amplification by exhibiting resonant responses to specific frequencies.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate frequency locking dynamics in a system near the Hopf bifurcation under additive and parametric forcing.
To analyze the impact of different forcing types on auditory hair cell response and resonance.

Main Methods:

Derivation of a universal amplitude equation incorporating both additive and parametric forcing terms.
Examination of frequency locking phenomena, including 1:1 and 2:1 resonance characteristics.

Main Results:

Parametric forcing leads to 1:1 frequency-locked solutions that coexist with solutions exhibiting a π phase shift, characteristic of 2:1 resonance.
The transition from unlocked to locked states differs between additive and parametric forcing, resulting in smooth or abrupt dynamics.
A theoretical framework is established for modeling auditory resonance with direct modulation of control parameters.

Conclusions:

The study provides a more realistic model of the auditory system by incorporating direct parameter modulation.
Findings on resonance and frequency locking dynamics are generalizable to other systems like Faraday waves and cardiomyocytes.