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The transfer function of the cochlea*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2009

T. W. Barrett
T. W. Barrett
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences, 894 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee 38163
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Extract

A sinusoidal signal is generally considered the simplest auditory signal. It is, indeed, a simple signal. However, it does not follow that a complex analysing device, like the cochlea, should treat a simple signal in a simple way. Indeed, a simple signal may appear to be complex when viewed from the standpoint of the device considered. Such an observation becomes cogent when one is attempting to discover the analysing capabilities of a device such as the cochlea, which appears designed to handle signals more complex than a sinusoid or multiple sinusoids.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 1978 , pp. 1 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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