The Patterns of Response in the Cochlea

Abstract

The general form of the intensity function for the electrical responses of the cochlea is now well known. As we raise the intensity of a sound applied to the ear, the cochlear potentials rise at first in simple proportion to the intensity, and then at a high level, as the stimulus is elevated further, they cease to follow this simple relation and give a bending curve. From the first departure from linearity onward the responses rise more and more slowly in relation to the stimulus until at last they reach a maximum value, a value beyond which they actually diminish as the intensity is raised. So much of the form of the function is established on the basis of numerous experiments (see reference 2), yet there still are many details not yet worked out with exactness. The present study seeks in a measure to supply this lack. We have been concerned especially with the initial departure from linearity and the maximum value of the response for various frequencies over the tonal range. This information, as we shall show, has a pertinent application to the problems of the locus and spread of response over the basilar membrane.