Amplification through local critical behavior in the mammalian cochlea.

ABSTRACT: Hearing hinges upon the ear's ability to enhance its responsiveness by means of an energy-expending active process that amplifies the very mechanical inputs that it detects. This process is defined by four properties that, although seemingly unrelated, consistently occur together: amplification, sharp frequency tuning, compressive nonlinearity, and spontaneous otoacoustic emission. In nonmammal tetrapods, the active process is evident in individual hair cells. The hair bundles of the bullfrog, for example, exhibit all four attributes by operating near a Hopf bifurcation-a critical regime in which these properties naturally coalesce. In mammals, however, the delicate nature of the cochlea has restricted the evidence for an active process to studies in vivo, where it is generally attributed

SUBMITTER: Alonso RG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12304976 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature