Stereocilin-deficient mice reveal the origin of cochlear waveform distortions.

ABSTRACT: Although the cochlea is an amplifier and a remarkably sensitive and finely tuned detector of sounds, it also produces conspicuous mechanical and electrical waveform distortions. These distortions reflect nonlinear mechanical interactions within the cochlea. By allowing one tone to suppress another (masking effect), they contribute to speech intelligibility. Tones can also combine to produce sounds with frequencies not present in the acoustic stimulus. These sounds compose the otoacoustic emissions that are extensively used to screen hearing in newborns. Because both cochlear amplification and distortion originate from the outer hair cells-one of the two types of sensory receptor cells-it has been speculated that they stem from a common mechanism. Here we show that the nonlinearity underlyi

SUBMITTER: Verpy E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3338146 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature