Basilar Membrane Vibrations Near the Round Window of the Gerbil Cochlea |
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Authors: | Edward H Overstreet Andrei N Temchin Mario A Ruggero |
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Institution: | (1) Institute for Neuroscience and Hugh Knowles Center, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston IL 60208-3550, USA, US |
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Abstract: | Using a laser velocimeter, responses to tones were measured at a basilar membrane site located about 1.2 mm from the extreme
basal end of the gerbil cochlea. In two exceptional cochleae in which function was only moderately disrupted by surgical preparations,
basilar membrane responses had characteristic frequencies (CFs) of 34–37 kHz and exhibited a CF-specific compressive nonlinearity:
Sensitivity near the CF decreased systematically and the response peaks shifted toward lower frequencies with increasing stimulus
level. Response phases also changed with increases in stimulus level, exhibiting small relative lags and leads at frequencies
just lower and higher than CF, respectively. Basilar membrane responses to low-level CF tones exceeded the magnitude of stapes
vibrations by 54–56 dB. Response phases led stapes vibrations by about 90° at low stimulus frequencies; at higher frequencies,
basilar membrane responses increasingly lagged stapes vibration, accumulating 1.5 periods of phase lag at CF. Postmortem,
nonlinearities were abolished and responses peaked at ~0.5 octave below CF, with phases which lagged and led in vivo responses
at frequencies lower and higher than CF, respectively. In conclusion, basilar membrane responses near the round window of
the gerbil cochlea closely resemble those for other basal cochlear sites in gerbil and other species. |
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