Related papers: Chaotic Dynamics Enhance the Sensitivity of Inner …
Experimental records of active bundle motility are used to demonstrate the presence of a low-dimensional chaotic attractor in hair cell dynamics. Dimensionality tests from dynamic systems theory are applied to estimate the number of…
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…
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…
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 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, 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…
The Hopf oscillator has been shown to capture many phenomena of the auditory and vestibular systems. These systems exhibit remarkable temporal resolution and sensitivity to weak signals, as they are able to detect sounds that induce motion…
We develop a framework for the general interpretation of the stochastic dynamical system near a limit cycle. Such quasi-periodic dynamics are commonly found in a variety of nonequilibrium systems, including the spontaneous oscillations of…
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…
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…
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 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…
Most sounds of interest consist of complex, time-dependent admixtures of tones of diverse frequencies and variable amplitudes. To detect and process these signals, the ear employs a highly nonlinear, adaptive, real-time spectral analyzer:…
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…
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…
Direct gating of mechanoelectrical-transduction channels by mechanical force is a basic feature of hair cells that assures fast transduction and underpins the mechanical amplification of acoustic inputs. But the associated nonlinearity -…
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…
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,…
Oscillatory activities are widely observed in specific frequency bands of recorded field potentials in different brain regions, and play critical roles in processing neural information. Understanding the structure of these oscillatory…
The auditory and vestibular systems exhibit remarkable sensitivity of detection, responding to deflections on the order of Angstroms, even in the presence of biological noise. Further, these complex systems exhibit high temporal acuity and…