Cochlear-Microphonic and Summating Potentials and the Outputs of Individual Hair-Cell Generators

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of abandoning the assumption that the summating potential (SP) and cochlear microphonic (CM) commonly recorded from the cochlea are produced by single groups of in-phase generators. It shows that, by postulating that the recording electrode averages the output of many out-of-phase generators, several of the apparently rather anomalous behaviors of the SP and CM may be explained. Included in this category is the behavior of the CM at very high intensities. A new mode of generation of the SP is suggested and some of its implications discussed. A semiquantitative argument is used to substantiate the claim that the mechanism of cancellation of out-of-phase components is adequate to account for those effects which have been attributed to it, and a concluding section deals briefly with some of the further implications of the model relating to other observed behaviors.