Journal
ANNUAL REVIEW OF CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, VOL 12, 2021
Volume 12, Issue -, Pages 29-49Publisher
ANNUAL REVIEWS
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-conmatphys-061020-053041
Keywords
auditory system; cochlea; hair bundle; Hopf bifurcation; transduction; traveling wave
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Funding
- French National Research Agency [ANR-16-CE13-0015, ANR-11-LABX-0038, ANR-10-IDEX-0001-02]
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) [ANR-11-LABX-0038, ANR-16-CE13-0015] Funding Source: Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR)
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Recognition of sounds involves analyzing frequency content, evoking mechanical waves traveling within the cochlea to specific places, detection by hair cells and hair bundles, and enhancement of sensitivity and frequency tuning through active processes. Operation near a Hopf bifurcation provides nonlinear generic features characteristic of hearing, and multiple gradients tune hair cells to cover our auditory range.
We recognize sounds by analyzing their frequency content. Different frequency components evoke distinct mechanical waves that each travel within the hearing organ, or cochlea, to a frequency-specific place. These signals are detected by hair cells, the ear's sensory receptors, in response to vibrations of mechanically sensitive antennas termed hair bundles. An active process enhances the sensitivity, sharpens the frequency tuning, and broadens the dynamic range of hair cells through several mechanisms, including active hair-bundle motility. A dynamic interplay between negative stiffness mediated by ion channels' gating forces and delayed force feedback owing to myosin motors and channel reclosure by calcium ions brings the hair bundle to the vicinity of an oscillatory instability-a Hopf bifurcation. Operation near a Hopf bifurcation provides nonlinear generic features that are characteristic of hearing. Multiple gradients at molecular, cellular, and supercellular scales tune hair cells to characteristic frequencies that cover our auditory range.
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