Hair cells of the auditory and vestibular systems are capable of detecting
sounds that induce sub-nanometer vibrations of the hair bundle, below the
stochastic noise levels of the surrounding fluid. Hair bundles of certain
species are also known to oscillate without external stimulation, indicating
the presence of an underlying active mechanism. We propose that chaotic
dynamics enhance the sensitivity and temporal resolution of the hair bundle
response, and provide experimental and theoretical evidence for this effect. By
varying the viscosity and ionic composition of the surrounding fluid, we are
able to modulate the degree of chaos observed in the hair bundle dynamics in
vitro. We consistently find that the hair bundle is most sensitive to a
stimulus of small amplitude when it is poised in the weakly chaotic regime.
Further, we show that the response time to a force step decreases with
increasing levels of chaos. These results agree well with our numerical
simulations of a chaotic Hopf oscillator and suggest that chaos may be
responsible for the sensitivity and temporal resolution of hair cells
