Related papers: Relative stereociliary motion in a hair bundle opp…
The hair cell's mechanoreceptive organelle, the hair bundle, is highly sensitive because its transduction channels open over a very narrow range of displacements. The synchronous gating of transduction channels also underlies the active…
The detection of sound begins when energy derived from acoustic stimuli deflects the hair bundles atop hair cells. As hair bundles move, the viscous friction between stereocilia and the surrounding liquid poses a fundamental challenge to…
The viscous liquid surrounding a hair bundle dissipates energy and dampens oscillations, which poses a fundamental physical challenge to the high sensitivity and sharp frequency selectivity of hearing. To identify the mechanical forces at…
We introduce the concept of self-tuned criticality as a general mechanism for signal detection in sensory systems. In the case of hearing, we argue that active amplification of faint sounds is provided by a dynamical system which is…
The hair cells of the vertebrate inner ear convert mechanical stimuli to electrical signals. Two adaptation mechanisms are known to modify the ionic current flowing through the transduction channels of the hair bundles: a rapid process…
Hair cells conduct auditory transduction in vertebrates. In lower vertebrates such as frogs and turtles, due to the active mechanism in hair cells, hair bundles(stereocilia) can be spontaneously oscillating or quiescent. Recently, the…
Hair bundles are biological oscillators that actively transduce mechanical stimuli into electrical signals in the auditory, vestibular, and lateral-line systems of vertebrates. A bundle's function can be explained in part by its operation…
Hair cells, the sensory receptors of the internal ear, subserve different functions in various receptor organs: they detect oscillatory stimuli in the auditory system, but transduce constant and step stimuli in the vestibular and…
Hair cells of the auditory and vestibular systems are capable of detecting sounds that induce sub-nanometer vibrations of the hair bundle, below the stochastic noise levels of the surrounding fluid. Hair bundles of certain species are also…
Hair cells of the auditory and vestibular systems display astonishing sensitivity, frequency selectivity, and temporal resolution to external signals. These specialized cells utilize an internal active amplifier to achieve highly sensitive…
Cochlear outer hair cells (OHCs) have two mechanosensitive elements: the hair bundle with mechanotrasducer channels and the piezoelectric lateral wall of the cell body. The present report examines how these elements interact with each other…
Sensory hair cells in auditory and vestibular organs rely on active mechanisms to achieve high sensitivity and frequency selectivity. Recent experimental studies have documented self-sustained oscillations in hair cells of lower vertebrates…
The hair bundle of sensory cells in the vertebrate ear provides an example of a noisy oscillator close to a Hopf bifurcation. The analysis of the data from both spontaneous and forced oscillations shows a strong violation of the…
The sensitivity and frequency selectivity of hearing result from tuned amplification by an active process in the mechanoreceptive hair cells. In most vertebrates the active process stems from the active motility of hair bundles. The…
Hair cells actively drive oscillations of their mechanosensitive organelles--the hair bundles that enable hearing and balance sensing in vertebrates. Why and how some hair cells expend energy by sustaining this oscillatory motion in order…
Sound produces surface waves along the cochlea's basilar membrane. To achieve the ear's astonishing frequency resolution and sensitivity to faint sounds, dissipation in the cochlea must be canceled via active processes in hair cells,…
The inner ear achieves a wide dynamic range of responsiveness by mechanically amplifying weak sounds. The enormous mechanical gain reported for the mammalian cochlea, which exceeds a factor of 4,000, poses a challenge for theory. Here we…
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…
We propose amplitude death phenomenon as an underlying mechanism of auditory transduction. When non-identical auditory hair bundles are elastically coupled, their spontaneous oscillations can be quenched to form an amplitude death state. We…
Mechanoelectrical transduction in the inner ear is a biophysical process underlying the senses of hearing and balance. The key players involved in this process are mechanosensitive ion channels. They are located in the stereocilia of hair…