1,770 research outputs found
Artificial Cochlea Design Using Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems
The use of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) in the design of an artificial cochlea is investigated in depth. Interdigitated finger (comb), cantilever, bridge, and mirror resonators are presented as possible devices used to implement the artificial cochlea. These resonators are demonstrated to be extremely high Q devices, capable of being tuned with a simple DC bias. This suggests a possible change to existing cochlea models that claim highly complex AC feedback as being responsible for changes in the damping of the basilar membrane. The new cochlea model presented here, using MEMS to approximate the tuning of the basilar membrane, may be closer to the workings of the actual cochlea, as we understand it today
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Cooperativity of Kv7.4 channels confers ultrafast electromechanical sensitivity and emergent properties in cochlear outer hair cells.
The mammalian cochlea relies on active electromotility of outer hair cells (OHCs) to resolve sound frequencies. OHCs use ionic channels and somatic electromotility to achieve the process. It is unclear, though, how the kinetics of voltage-gated ionic channels operate to overcome extrinsic viscous drag on OHCs at high frequency. Here, we report ultrafast electromechanical gating of clustered Kv7.4 in OHCs. Increases in kinetics and sensitivity resulting from cooperativity among clustered-Kv7.4 were revealed, using optogenetics strategies. Upon clustering, the half-activation voltage shifted negative, and the speed of activation increased relative to solitary channels. Clustering also rendered Kv7.4 channels mechanically sensitive, confirmed in consolidated Kv7.4 channels at the base of OHCs. Kv7.4 clusters provide OHCs with ultrafast electromechanical channel gating, varying in magnitude and speed along the cochlea axis. Ultrafast Kv7.4 gating provides OHCs with a feedback mechanism that enables the cochlea to overcome viscous drag and resolve sounds at auditory frequencies
A ratchet mechanism for amplification in low-frequency mammalian hearing
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 mammalian cochlea exhibits an additional form of mechanical activity termed
electromotility: its outer hair cells (OHCs) change length upon electrical
stimulation. The relative contributions of these two mechanisms to the active
process in the mammalian inner ear is the subject of intense current debate.
Here we show that active hair-bundle motility and electromotility can together
implement an efficient mechanism for amplification that functions like a
ratchet: sound-evoked forces acting on the basilar membrane are transmitted to
the hair bundles whereas electromotility decouples active hair-bundle forces
from the basilar membrane. This unidirectional coupling can extend the hearing
range well below the resonant frequency of the basilar membrane. It thereby
provides a concept for low-frequency hearing that accounts for a variety of
unexplained experimental observations from the cochlear apex, including the
shape and phase behavior of apical tuning curves, their lack of significant
nonlinearities, and the shape changes of threshold tuning curves of auditory
nerve fibers along the cochlea. The ratchet mechanism constitutes a general
design principle for implementing mechanical amplification in engineering
applications.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, plus Supplementary Information. Animation
available on the PNAS website (http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0914345107)
A Comprehensive Three-Dimensional Model of the Cochlea
The human cochlea is a remarkable device, able to discern extremely small
amplitude sound pressure waves, and discriminate between very close
frequencies. Simulation of the cochlea is computationally challenging due to
its complex geometry, intricate construction and small physical size. We have
developed, and are continuing to refine, a detailed three-dimensional
computational model based on an accurate cochlear geometry obtained from
physical measurements. In the model, the immersed boundary method is used to
calculate the fluid-structure interactions produced in response to incoming
sound waves. The model includes a detailed and realistic description of the
various elastic structures present.
In this paper, we describe the computational model and its performance on the
latest generation of shared memory servers from Hewlett Packard. Using compiler
generated threads and OpenMP directives, we have achieved a high degree of
parallelism in the executable, which has made possible several large scale
numerical simulation experiments that study the interesting features of the
cochlear system. We show several results from these simulations, reproducing
some of the basic known characteristics of cochlear mechanics.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure
Neuro-electronic technology in medicine and beyond
This dissertation looks at the technology and social issues involved with interfacing electronics directly to the human nervous system, in particular the methods for both reading and stimulating nerves. The development and use of cochlea implants is discussed, and is compared with recent developments in artificial vision. The final sections consider a future for non-medicinal applications of neuro-electronic technology. Social attitudes towards use for both medicinal and non-medicinal purposes are discussed, and the viability of use in the latter case assessed
Minimal basilar membrane motion in low-frequency hearing
Low-frequency hearing is critically important for speech and music perception, but no mechanical measurements have previously been available from inner ears with intact low-frequency parts. These regions of the cochlea may function in ways different from the extensively studied high-frequency regions, where the sensory outer hair cells produce force that greatly increases the sound-evoked vibrations of the basilar membrane. We used laser interferometry in vitro and optical coherence tomography in vivo to study the low-frequency part of the guinea pig cochlea, and found that sound stimulation caused motion of a minimal portion of the basilar membrane. Outside the region of peak movement, an exponential decline in motion amplitude occurred across the basilar membrane. The moving region had different dependence on stimulus frequency than the vibrations measured near the mechanosensitive stereocilia. This behavior differs substantially from the behavior found in the extensively studied high-frequency regions of the cochlea
MEMS based hair flow-sensors as model systems for acoustic perception studies
Arrays of MEMS fabricated flow sensors inspired by the acoustic flow-sensitive hairs found on the cerci of crickets, have been designed, fabricated and characterized. The hairs consist of up to 1 mm long SU-8 structures mounted on suspended membranes with normal translational and rotational degrees of freedom. Electrodes on the membrane and on the substrate form variable capacitors allowing for capacitive read-out. Capacitance versus voltage, frequency dependency and directional sensitivity measurements have been successfully carried out on fabricated sensor arrays, showing the viability of the concept. The sensors form a model-system allowing for investigations on sensory acoustics by their arrayed nature, their adaptivity via electrostatic interaction (frequency tuning and parametric amplifica- tion) and their susceptibility to noise (stochastic resonance
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