The avian auditory papilla has many similarities to the mammalian cochlea but whether force generation by hair cells amplifies the travelling wave, as it does in mammals, remains unknown. Here the authors show that the chicken basilar papilla does not have a ‘cochlear amplifier’ and that sharp frequency tuning does not derive from mechanical vibrations.
- Anping Xia
- Xiaofang Liu
- John S. Oghalai