Cooperativity Between Hair Cells And Role Of Noise In The Spontaneous Generation Of Sounds By The Inner Ear

毛细胞之间的协作性和噪声在内耳自发产生声音中的作用

• 批准号: 2309953
• 负责人: Julien Meaud
• 金额: $ 34.83万
• 依托单位: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2309953&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Cooperativity; Between; Hair; Cells; Role

This grant will support research that will contribute new knowledge regarding how sounds are generated by the inner ear in the absence of any external sound. These are called spontaneous otoacoustic emissions. Humans with normal hearing can detect faint sounds due to the active feedback from hair cells within the inner ear. Spontaneous otoacoustic emissions are a direct consequence of this feedback. These emissions are commonly measured in humans and other species, but remain poorly understood. This project focuses on fundamental research that provides needed knowledge about how the ear operates and generates spontaneous emissions. Hearing impairment, which affects millions of Americans, is often caused by loss of hair cell function. By improving understanding of the ear, this project will ultimately help to better diagnose and treat hearing loss, which will benefit US society. This project involves multiple disciplines including biophysics, biomechanics, computational modeling, acoustics, and nonlinear dynamics. The project will help broaden participation of underrepresented groups in research, positively impact engineering education, and sensitize students to the risks and consequences of noise overexposure. Spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAEs) provide important clues about how the inner ear operates because it implies that the ear is an active system. However, two seemingly irreconcilable theories currently exist for SOAE generation, the standing wave (SW) model and the coupled limit-cycle oscillator (CLCO) model. This project aims to clarify the biophysical mechanisms of SOAE generation by evaluating the ability of these theories to predict the key characteristics of experimental SOAE recordings. The central hypothesis of this project is that the two theories predict significantly different nonlinear dynamics when the effect of external stimuli and noise on SOAEs is considered. To test this hypothesis, the research team will implement a series of models of varying complexity for the SW and CLCO theories. These models will be used to investigate (1) the generation mechanisms of SOAEs; (2) the effect of external tones and noise (both internal and external) on the nonlinear dynamics of SOAEs; (3) the functional consequences of noise and SOAE generation on the detection of low-level sounds. Comparison of model predictions to experimental SOAE measurements will be used to assess the validity of the models, constrain these models, and identify the best model(s).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该赠款将支持研究，这些研究将有助于有关在没有任何外部声音的情况下内耳产生的声音的新知识。这些被称为自发的耳声排放。 由于内耳内部的毛细胞的主动反馈，具有正常听力的人可以检测到微弱的声音。自发的耳声排放是这种反馈的直接结果。 这些排放通常是在人类和其他物种中衡量的，但知之甚少。该项目着重于基础研究，该研究提供了有关耳朵如何运作和产生自发排放的必要知识。影响数百万美国人的听力障碍通常是由于毛细胞功能的丧失引起的。通过提高对耳朵的理解，该项目最终将有助于更好地诊断和治疗听力损失，这将使我们的社会受益。该项目涉及多个学科，包括生物物理学，生物力学，计算建模，声学和非线性动力学。该项目将有助于扩大代表性不足的群体参与研究的参与，对工程教育产生积极影响，并使学生对噪音过度暴露的风险和后果敏感。自发性耳声排放（SOAE）提供了有关内耳如何运转的重要线索，因为它暗示着耳朵是一个活跃的系统。但是，目前存在两个看似不可调节的理论，用于SOAE生成，常驻波（SW）模型和耦合极限循环振荡器（CLCO）模型。该项目旨在通过评估这些理论预测实验性SOAE记录的关键特征的能力来阐明SOAE产生的生物物理机制。 该项目的核心假设是，当考虑外部刺激和噪声对SOAE的影响时，这两种理论预测非线性动力学明显不同。 为了检验这一假设，研究团队将针对SW和CLCO理论实施一系列不同复杂性的模型。这些模型将用于研究（1）SOAE的发电机理； （2）外部音调和噪声（内部和外部）对SOAE的非线性动力学的影响； （3）噪声和SOAE产生对低级声音的检测的功能后果。将模型预测与实验性SOAE测量值的比较将用于评估模型的有效性，限制这些模型并确定最佳模型。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛影响的审查标准通过评估来评估的。