Significance
The remarkable high-frequency sensitivity of mammalian hearing depends on the amplification of sound-evoked cochlear vibrations by outer hair cells. One way that outer hair cells are proposed to generate amplifying forces is through voltage-driven changes in cell length. However, it remains unclear whether this electromotility can work fast enough in vivo to provide amplification at the necessary frequencies. Here, we show that sound elicits motions within the living mouse cochlea that are fully consistent with electromotility. These motions are large relative to the motion of the underlying cochlear partition, including at high frequencies. The data therefore suggest that electromotility can indeed provide high-speed amplification in vivo.
Highlights d K v 1.8, K v 7.4, K v 11.1, K v 12.1, and BK Ca provide six K + conductances in inner hair cells d These conductances shape receptor potentials during sound stimulation d Combined activity of all channels improves hair cell frequency and intensity coding d The channel repertoire is an evolutionary adaptation to encode complex sound precisely
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