Neuromorphic Engineering in Wetware: Discriminating Acoustic Frequencies through Their Effects on Chemical Waves

Area of Science:

• Bioinspired engineering
• Chemical systems
• Acoustic sensing

Background:

• The human nervous system's functions can be replicated using non-traditional methods like chemical reactions.
• The cochlea in the human ear converts sound vibrations into electrochemical signals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction as a bioinspired chemoacoustic sensor.
• To demonstrate the transduction of acoustic energy into chemical patterns.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a thin layer of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction.
• Conducting experiments and simulations to analyze system responses.
• Observing spatiotemporal patterns generated by chemical waves.

Main Results:

• The BZ reaction system successfully transduced mechanical acoustic energy into chemical energy.
• Distinct acoustic frequency bands (10-2000 Hz) were represented by specific spatiotemporal chemical patterns.
• Pattern attributes like wave types, velocities, and Faraday wavelengths were used for frequency partitioning.

Conclusions:

• The Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction can serve as a surrogate for the cochlea.
• This chemoacoustic system demonstrates a novel bioinspired approach to acoustic sensing.
• Spatiotemporal chemical patterns effectively represent distinct acoustic frequency bands.