Integrating the active process of hair cells with cochlear function.
review · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 25096182.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/nrn3786.
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Abstract
Uniquely among human senses, hearing is not simply a passive response to stimulation. Our auditory system is instead enhanced by an active process in cochlear hair cells that amplifies acoustic signals several hundred-fold, sharpens frequency selectivity and broadens the ear's dynamic range. Active motility of the mechanoreceptive hair bundles underlies the active process in amphibians and some reptiles; in mammals, this mechanism operates in conjunction with prestin-based somatic motility. Both individual hair bundles and the cochlea as a whole operate near a dynamical instability, the Hopf bifurcation, which accounts for the cardinal features of the active process.
Medical subject headings
- Auditory Pathways
- Cochlea
- Hair Cells, Auditory