Abstract
A mathematical model describing the coupling between two independent amplification mechanisms in auditory hair cells is proposed and analyzed. Hair cells are cells in the inner ear responsible for translating sound-induced mechanical stimuli into an electrical signal that can then be recorded by the auditory nerve. In nonmammals, two separate mechanisms have been postulated to contribute to the amplification and tuning properties of the hair cells. Models of each of these mechanisms have been shown to be poised near a Hopf bifurcation. Through a weakly nonlinear analysis that assumes weak periodic forcing, weak damping, and weak coupling, the physiologically based models of the two mechanisms are reduced to a system of two coupled amplitude equations describing the resonant response. The predictions that follow from an analysis of the reduced equations, as well as performance benefits due to the coupling of the two mechanisms, are discussed and compared with published experimental auditory nerve data.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 051924 |
Journal | Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics |
Volume | 75 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 30 2007 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
- Statistics and Probability
- Condensed Matter Physics