Supplement: Active and Nonlinear Models for Cochlear Mechanics

项目总结： 流体流刺激耳蜗内毛细胞的毛束(HB)打开机械连接。 IHC的电气换能器(MET)通道。由此产生的电流使细胞体感应去极化 神经递质的释放，最终，听觉神经刺激。耳蜗的活动机械， 由外毛细胞(OHC)的运动性驱动，既调节IHC HBs的微流体兴奋，又提供 用于非线性压缩。然而，OHC体细胞和Hb运动对最终流体的相对影响 强迫进入耳蜗还没有最终确定。家长奖助金的具体目标是 开发这些现象的数学模型，并通过比较来严格测试活动假设 现有的实验，并与我们的合作者一起设计可行的新实验来测试我们的 预测。本附录旨在通过简化代码版本来扩大这项工作的影响 在我们以前的出版物中使用，供听觉计算社区使用和修改。 我们将通过使用开源软件平台托管我们的代码来做到这一点。这将允许直接使用 代码用于在不同运行条件下进行模拟，并对代码进行修改和改进。 我们将通过我们的网站、出版物和其他演示文稿来宣传这项活动。 这项研究的首要目标是开发一个完整的流体-机械-电气模型，该模型描述了 耳蜗对外界声学刺激的反应。如果成功，这一模式将增强我们的 了解耳蜗的失效机制，回答有关哪种形态的重要问题 耳蜗元素失效的原因和原因。此外，这种预测性代码有望改善非侵入性 诊断听觉功能，因为耳蜗声反应的特征(如耳声发射)可以 与特定的病理联系在一起。最后，拥有一个覆盖整个音频频谱的预测模型将帮助我们 为了了解重要的信号类别是如何在耳蜗中处理的(如语音和音乐)和 这样的理解可以带来更好的语音处理算法或人工耳蜗电刺激 接近了。

PROJECT SUMMARY: Fluid flow stimulates the hair bundles (HB) of the inner hair cells (IHC) of the cochlea opening the mechano- electric transducer (MET) channels of the IHCs. The resulting current depolarizes the cell body inducing neurotransmitter release and, ultimately, auditory nerve stimulation. The active machinery of the cochlea, driven by motility of outer hair cells (OHC), both tunes the microfluidic excitation of the IHC HBs and provides for nonlinear compression. However, the relative influence of OHC somatic and HB motility on this final fluidic forcing in the cochlea has yet to be conclusively determined. The specific aims of the parent grant seek to develop mathematical models of these phenomena and rigorously test hypotheses of activity via comparison to existing experiments and work with our collaborators to devise feasible new experiments to test our predictions. This supplement aims to broaden the impact of this work by making a streamlined version of code used in our previous publications available for use and modification by the auditory computation community. We will do this by using open-source software platforms to host our code. This will enable the direct use of the code for simulations under different operating conditions and for modification and improvement of the code. We will publicize this activity through our website, publications, and other presentations. The overarching goal of this research is to develop a complete fluid-mechanical-electrical model that describes the response of the cochlea to external acoustic stimulation. If successful, this model will enhance our understanding of failure mechanisms in the cochlea, answering important questions as to which morphological elements of the cochlea fail and why. Further, this predictive code holds the promise to improve noninvasive diagnosis of auditory function because features of the cochlear response (such as otoacoustic emissions) can be linked to specific pathologies. Finally, having a predictive model over the entire audio spectrum will help us to understand how important classes of signals are processed in the cochlea (such as speech and music) and such understanding can lead to better speech processing algorithms or cochlear implant electrical stimulation approaches.