Elsevier

Hearing Research

Volume 50, Issues 1–2, December 1990, Pages 145-162
Hearing Research

Basilar membrane nonlinearity and its influence on auditory nerve rate-intensity functions

https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-5955(90)90041-MGet rights and content

Abstract

Previous papers have shown that the shapes of rate-intensity functions of auditory nerve fibres vary with spontaneous rate (Sachs and Abbas 1974; Sachs et al. 1989; Winter et al. 1990; Yates et al. 1990) and that the variation is due to the nonlinear properties of the basilar membrane. This paper examines the basilar membrane nonlinearity and provides a semi-quantitative explanation for it in terms of previous models (Zwicker 1979; Patuzzi et al. 1989) and an analogue model. It thereby provides explanations for the shapes of the basilar membrane input-output curves and for the way in which they vary with trauma. The shapes of the neural rate-intensity functions are quantified and shown to be consistent with the low-threshold data of Geisler et al. (1985). Several nonlinear properties of the cochlea, such as recruitment, are also interpreted.

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    Portions of this work were reported at the Boden Research Conference, Thredbo, New South Wales, Australia, February 1–3, 1989.

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