Suppression tuning curves in a two-degrees-of-freedom nonlinear cochlear model

Broad nonlinearity in reticular lamina vibrations requires compliant organ of Corti structures

In the mammalian cochlea, each longitudinal position of the basilar membrane (BM) has a nonlinear vibratory response in a limited frequency range around the location-dependent frequency of maximum response, known as the best frequency (BF). This nonlinear response arises from the electromechanical feedback from outer hair cells (OHCs). However, recent in vivo measurements have demonstrated that the mechanical response of other organ of Corti (OoC) structures, such as the reticular lamina (RL), and the electrical response of OHCs (measured in the local cochlear microphonic [LCM]) are nonlinear even at frequencies significantly below BF. In this work, a physiologically motivated model of the gerbil cochlea is used to demonstrate that the source of this discrepancy between the frequency range of the BM, RL, and LCM nonlinearities is greater compliance in the structures at the top of the OHCs. The predicted responses of the BM, RL, and LCM to pure tone and two-tone stimuli are shown to be in line with experimental evidence. Simulations then demonstrate that the sub-BF nonlinearity in the RL requires the structures at the top of the OHCs to be significantly more compliant than the BM. This same condition is also necessary for "optimal" gain near BF, i.e., high amplification that is in line with the experiment. This demonstrates that the conditions for OHCs to operate optimally at BF inevitably yield nonlinearity of the RL response over a broad frequency range.

Difference between frequency and suppression tuning curves in a two-dimensional cochlear model

Suppression tuning curves (STCs) can be used to evaluate the cochlear frequency selectivity. However, the tip of the STC is located at a higher frequency than that of the frequency tuning curve (FTC) measured in the same preparation. Therefore, this study compares STCs from one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) cochlear models, which ignore and include short waves, respectively. The simulated STC tip is at a higher frequency than that of FTC in the 2D model, unlike the 1D model. The result suggests that short waves in the 2D model are responsible for the upward frequency of STC relative to FTC.

The Elusive Cochlear Filter: Wave Origin of Cochlear Cross-Frequency Masking

The mammalian cochlea achieves its remarkable sensitivity, frequency selectivity, and dynamic range by spatially segregating the different frequency components of sound via nonlinear processes that remain only partially understood. As a consequence of the wave-based nature of cochlear processing, the different frequency components of complex sounds interact spatially and nonlinearly, mutually suppressing one another as they propagate. Because understanding nonlinear wave interactions and their effects on hearing appears to require mathematically complex or computationally intensive models, theories of hearing that do not deal specifically with cochlear mechanics have often neglected the spatial nature of suppression phenomena. Here we describe a simple framework consisting of a nonlinear traveling-wave model whose spatial response properties can be estimated from basilar-membrane (BM) transfer functions. Without invoking jazzy details of organ-of-Corti mechanics, the model accounts well for the peculiar frequency-dependence of suppression found in two-tone suppression experiments. In particular, our analysis shows that near the peak of the traveling wave, the amplitude of the BM response depends primarily on the nonlinear properties of the traveling wave in more basal (high-frequency) regions. The proposed framework provides perhaps the simplest representation of cochlear signal processing that accounts for the spatially distributed effects of nonlinear wave propagation. Shifting the perspective from local filters to non-local, spatially distributed processes not only elucidates the character of cochlear signal processing, but also has important consequences for interpreting psychophysical experiments.