Graded and nonlinear mechanical properties of sensory hairs in the mammalian hearing organ

Abstract

It is generally agreed that frequency selectivity of the mammalian hearing organ is mainly due to a graded elasticity of the basilar membrane¹. Recent measurements of basilar membrane motion^2,3, hair cell receptor potentials⁴ and neural tuning curves⁵ show that frequency selectivity can be extremely sharp. It has been suggested that in non-mammalian species there are additional tuning mechanisms in the sensory hair cells themselves, either by virtue of their electrical membrane properties⁶ or through a gradation in length of their sensory hairs^7,8. Indeed, sensory hair mechanical tuning has been demonstrated in the lizard⁹. We have investigated the mechanical properties of sensory hair bundles in the guinea pig organ of Corti, and report here that hair-bundle stiffness increases longitudinally towards the high-frequency end of the cochlea, decreases radially towards the outer rows of cells, and is greater for excitatory than for inhibitory deflection. On the basis of these findings, we suggest that sensory hairs confer frequency-specific, nonlinear mechanical properties on the hearing organ.