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Hair Cells in the Cochlea Must Tune Resonant Modes to the Edge of Instability Without Destabilizing Collective Modes by Momi, Asheesh S.; Abbott, Michael C.; Rubinfien, Julian; Machta, Benjamin B.; Graf, Isabella R. is a scholarly article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Hair Cells in the Cochlea Must Tune Resonant Modes to the Edge of Instability Without Destabilizing Collective Modes about?

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, effectively bringing the cochlea to the edge of instability. But how can the cochlea be globally tuned to the edge of instability with only local feedback? To address this question, we use a discretized version of a standard model of basilar membrane dynamics, but with an explicit contribution from active processes in hair cells. Surprisingly, we find the basilar membrane supports two qualitatively distinct sets of modes: a continuum of localized modes and a small number of collective extended modes. Localized modes sharply peak at their resonant position and are largely uncoupled. As a result, they can be amplified almost independently from each other by local hair cells via feedback reminiscent of self-organized criticality. However, this amplification can destabilize the collective extended modes; avoiding such instabilities places limits on possible molecular mechanisms for active feedback in hair cells. Our work illuminates how and under what cond

Author

Momi, Asheesh S.; Abbott, Michael C.; Rubinfien, Julian; Machta, Benjamin B.; Graf, Isabella R.

Published

2024

Language

EN