[Electromechanical transduction: influence of the outer hair cells on the motion of the organ of Corti]

Static length changes of cochlear outer hair cells can tune low-frequency hearing

The cochlea not only transduces sound-induced vibration into neural spikes, it also amplifies weak sound to boost its detection. Actuators of this active process are sensory outer hair cells in the organ of Corti, whereas the inner hair cells transduce the resulting motion into electric signals that propagate via the auditory nerve to the brain. However, how the outer hair cells modulate the stimulus to the inner hair cells remains unclear. Here, we combine theoretical modeling and experimental measurements near the cochlear apex to study the way in which length changes of the outer hair cells deform the organ of Corti. We develop a geometry-based kinematic model of the apical organ of Corti that reproduces salient, yet counter-intuitive features of the organ's motion. Our analysis further uncovers a mechanism by which a static length change of the outer hair cells can sensitively tune the signal transmitted to the sensory inner hair cells. When the outer hair cells are in an elongated state, stimulation of inner hair cells is largely inhibited, whereas outer hair cell contraction leads to a substantial enhancement of sound-evoked motion near the hair bundles. This novel mechanism for regulating the sensitivity of the hearing organ applies to the low frequencies that are most important for the perception of speech and music. We suggest that the proposed mechanism might underlie frequency discrimination at low auditory frequencies, as well as our ability to selectively attend auditory signals in noisy surroundings.

Hair bundles of cochlear outer hair cells are shaped to minimize their fluid-dynamic resistance

The mammalian sense of hearing relies on two types of sensory cells: inner hair cells transmit the auditory stimulus to the brain, while outer hair cells mechanically modulate the stimulus through active feedback. Stimulation of a hair cell is mediated by displacements of its mechanosensitive hair bundle which protrudes from the apical surface of the cell into a narrow fluid-filled space between reticular lamina and tectorial membrane. While hair bundles of inner hair cells are of linear shape, those of outer hair cells exhibit a distinctive V-shape. The biophysical rationale behind this morphology, however, remains unknown. Here we use analytical and computational methods to study the fluid flow across rows of differently shaped hair bundles. We find that rows of V-shaped hair bundles have a considerably reduced resistance to crossflow, and that the biologically observed shapes of hair bundles of outer hair cells are near-optimal in this regard. This observation accords with the function of outer hair cells and lends support to the recent hypothesis that inner hair cells are stimulated by a net flow, in addition to the well-established shear flow that arises from shearing between the reticular lamina and the tectorial membrane.

The breaking of cochlear scaling symmetry in human newborns and adults

Scaling symmetry appears to be a fundamental property of the cochlea as evidenced by invariant distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) phase above ∼1-1.5 kHz when using frequency-scaled stimuli. Below this frequency demarcation, phase steepens. Cochlear scaling and its breaking have been described in the adult cochlea but have not been studied in newborns. It is not clear whether immaturities in cochlear mechanics exist at birth in the human neonate. In this study, DPOAE phase was recorded with a swept-tone protocol in three, octave-wide segments from 0.5 to 4 kHz. The lowest-frequency octave was targeted with increased signal averaging to enhance signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and focus on the apical half of the newborn cochlea where breaks from scaling have been observed. The results show: (1) the ear canal DPOAE phase was dominated by the distortion-source component in the low frequencies; thus, the reflection component cannot explain the steeper slope of phase; (2) DPOAE phase-frequency functions from adults and infants showed an unambiguous discontinuity around 1.4 and 1 kHz when described using two- and three-segment fits, respectively, and (3) newborns had a significantly steeper slope of phase in the low-frequency portion of the function which may suggest residual immaturities in the apical half of the newborn cochlea.