Two adaptation processes in audito ... | Article | H1 Connect

A plethora of models exist that each attempt to explain the frequency-selective characteristics of the mammalian cochlea. These authors combine a one-dimensional formulation for the travelling wave with the concept of critical oscillation near a Hopf bifurcation and achieve a close approximation to cochlear behavior. Hopf-bifurcation models were successful in describing the behavior of active hair cells and the demonstration that frog sacculus hair cells are Hopf oscillators make this a very attractive concept for modeling active cochlear mechanisms. Additionally attractive is the great simplicity of this model, in which the complex integration of specific cochlear values becomes a minor issue. The model supports and complements a paper by M.O. Magnasco (Phys Rev Lett 2003, 90(5):058101 [PMID:12633400]) that relates the high slopes of cochlear tuning to the travelling wave plus mechanoreceptors poised at a Hopf bifurcation.