Hearing. I. The cochlea as a frequency analyzer

Gold, T.; Pumphrey, R. J.; Gray, James Richard Andrew

doi:10.1098/rspb.1948.0024

Cited by 80 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Contemporary to Békésy, Gold performed rigorous psychoacoustic experiments in order to determine the frequency selectivity and discernibility of the human ear [Gold and Pumphrey, 1948]. These tests found, based on the refractory period of the nervous system, that the cochlea must perform some form of resonant frequency analysis and that the selectivity (the Q-factor) of the resonant elements should be proportional to frequency.…”

Section: The Cochleamentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient Encoding Of Vocalizations In The Auditory Midbrain

Holmstrom¹

2000

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An important question in sensory neuroscience is what coding strategies and mechanisms are used by the brain to detect and discriminate among behaviorally relevant stimuli. To address the noisy response properties of individual neurons, sensory systems often utilize broadly tuned neurons with overlapping receptive fields at the system's periphery, resulting in homogeneous responses among neighboring populations of neurons. It has been hypothesized that progressive response heterogeneity in ascending sensory pathways is evidence of an efficient encoding strategy that minimizes the redundancy of the peripheral neural code and maximizes information throughput for higher level processing. This hypothesis has been partly supported by the documentation of neural heterogeneity in various cortical structures.This dissertation examines whether selective and sensitive responses to behaviorally relevant stimuli contribute to a heterogeneous and efficient encoding in the auditory midbrain. Prior to this study, no compelling experimental framework ex- My parents, for their support throughout all of my education. Not only did they instill in me a confidence that I could take on any educational challenge, but they supported me when I chose not to take these challenges on. I'm sure they worried about me when I dropped out of college in 1993, but their trust in my own decision making process was a better lesson for me to learn at the time.My sister, for teaching me how to fight for the important things in life.My entire committee, for challenging me to push my limits (which I discovered on many occasions). I have leaned on each and every one of them at different times through this process. I am very grateful to have had access to a group so diverse in their specialties, yet so consistent in their kindness, approachability, depth of knowledge, and eagerness to share this knowledge. I couldn't have done this without a single one of them.Lonneke Eeuwes, for all of the long hours she spent collecting data for our experiii iments and carefully reading through my manuscripts.Sunghan Kim, for working with me through the technical details of our state space frequency tracking methods. My research was made possible by your work.Roberto Santiago, for taking me under his wing as a fresh graduate student and imbuing me with a sense of adventure about research. He taught me that the challenges inherent in science are not a chore, but a privilege to be relished.John Vasallo, for setting time aside for our weekly musical catharsis and for being flexible with respect to my constantly shifting schedule. He almost single handedly ensured that playing music will continue to be an important part of my life.Todd Haynes, for his roving intellect and dedication to the creative process. I can only hope that I can tap into a similar wellspring of enthusiasm, kindness, and vision.

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Section: The Cochleamentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient Encoding Of Vocalizations In The Auditory Midbrain

Holmstrom¹

2000

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“…This is of course merely one aspect of the long-realized discrepancy between subjective acuity and the probable capabilities of the cochlea as an analyser. The results of Gold & Pumphrey (1948) being obtained subjectively, could as well be referred to the nervous pathway as to the peripheral receptor mechanism, and suggested to us that some form of neural 'resonator' system might exist, such as a system of closed neuronal rings with different temporal properties. Such a system should show after-discharge, and calculation from the figures given by Gold & Pumphrey (1948) indicates that this should be of the order of 20 msec when a tone 20 db above threshold is suddenly terminated.…”

Section: Effect Of Stimulus Intensity Variations At the Characteristimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results of Gold & Pumphrey (1948) being obtained subjectively, could as well be referred to the nervous pathway as to the peripheral receptor mechanism, and suggested to us that some form of neural 'resonator' system might exist, such as a system of closed neuronal rings with different temporal properties. Such a system should show after-discharge, and calculation from the figures given by Gold & Pumphrey (1948) indicates that this should be of the order of 20 msec when a tone 20 db above threshold is suddenly terminated. As stated earlier, we could detect no after-discharge of any kind under these conditions, or even with louder stimuli, the tendency being rather toward an immediate depression.…”

Section: Effect Of Stimulus Intensity Variations At the Characteristimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…10). Gold & Pumphrey (1948), in experiments in man, determined subjectively the apparent 'Q' of the ear at various frequencies. They obtained much higher values than would be expected from the known mechanical properties of the basilar membrane or those suggested by the response curves of Galambos & Davis (1943) in the cat.…”

Section: Effect Of Stimulus Intensity Variations At the Characteristimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Responses of the trapezoid body to acoustic stimulation with pure tones

Hilali¹,

Whitfield²

1953

The Journal of Physiology

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“…Moreover, these elements are closely coupled, so it is hard to understand how the high Q that the ear displays (150 at 2.5 kHz; Gold and Pumphrey, 1948) can arise. Nevertheless, it is this bank of graded resonators which auditory science has seen as the cause of the 'traveling wave', observed by Békésy (Békésy, 1960), that underlies the stimulation of inner hair cells and the generation of neural impulses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Helmholtz's Piano Strings: Reverberation of Ripples on the Tectorial Membrane

Bell¹

2001

SSRN Journal

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Abstract:In 1857 Helmholtz proposed that the ear contained an array of sympathetic resonators, like piano strings, which served to give the ear its fine frequency discrimination. Since the discovery that most healthy human ears emit faint, pure tones (spontaneous otoacoustic emissions), it has been possible to view these narrowband signals as the continuous ringing of the resonant elements. But what are the elements? It is noteworthy that motile outer hair cells lie in a precise crystal-like array with their sensitive stereocilia in contact with the tectorial membrane, a gelatinous structure with an observed surface tension. This paper therefore speculates that ripples (surface tension waves) on the lower surface of the tectorial membrane propagate to and fro between neighbouring cells. This mechanism defines a surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator, and relies on the outer hair cells directly sensing intracochlear fluid pressure through their cell bodies; in this way the theory revisits the resonance theory of hearing. The SAW resonator acts as a regenerative receiver of acoustic energy, a topology which was invoked in 1948 by Gold, who later drew the analogy to an 'underwater piano' to describe the cochlea's problem of how it could vibrate with high Q while immersed in fluid. The proposal also gives a physical description of the cochlear amplifier postulated by Davis in 1983. An active array of resonating cavities driven by outer hair cells can explain spontaneous emissions, the shape of the basilar membrane tuning curve, and evoked emissions, among others, and could relate strongly to music.At levels above which the cochlear amplifier saturates, ripples on the tectorial membrane can still be identified, this time due to vibration of the tectorial membrane against the sharp vestibular lip. This second putative mechanism provides time delays between initiation of the ripple by acoustic pressure variations and its detection by the inner hair cells, and so represents an alternative way of interpreting the traveling wave.Thus, by invoking two ways of generating ripples on the tectorial membrane, a comprehensive account of cochlear mechanics can be constructed, unifying a resonance theory (at low levels) with a traveling wave picture (at high levels).

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Hearing. I. The cochlea as a frequency analyzer

Cited by 80 publications

References 12 publications

Efficient Encoding Of Vocalizations In The Auditory Midbrain

Efficient Encoding Of Vocalizations In The Auditory Midbrain

Responses of the trapezoid body to acoustic stimulation with pure tones

Helmholtz's Piano Strings: Reverberation of Ripples on the Tectorial Membrane

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