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Tonotopy in the auditory system begins at the cochlea, the small snail-like structure in the inner ear that sends information about sound to the brain. Different regions of the basilar membrane in the organ of Corti , the sound-sensitive portion of the cochlea, vibrate at different sinusoidal frequencies due to variations in thickness and width ...
The inner ear (internal ear, auris interna) is the innermost part of the vertebrate ear. In vertebrates , the inner ear is mainly responsible for sound detection and balance. [ 1 ] In mammals , it consists of the bony labyrinth , a hollow cavity in the temporal bone of the skull with a system of passages comprising two main functional parts: [ 2 ]
The inner ear consists of the cochlea and several non-auditory structures. The cochlea has three fluid-filled sections (i.e. the scala media, scala tympani and scala vestibuli) , and supports a fluid wave driven by pressure across the basilar membrane separating two of the sections.
The cochlea is the part of the inner ear involved in hearing. It is a spiral-shaped cavity in the bony labyrinth , in humans making 2.75 turns around its axis, the modiolus . [ 2 ] [ 3 ] A core component of the cochlea is the organ of Corti , the sensory organ of hearing, which is distributed along the partition separating the fluid chambers in ...
In this study, scientists used zebrafish to examine the motion of proteins within live ear cells using a confocal microscope. This has shown that proteins in stereocilia move quickly, indicating that the movement of the proteins within the hair cells may be a very important factor to maintaining the integrity of the hair bundles in the inner ear.
Together with the cochlea, a part of the auditory system, it constitutes the labyrinth of the inner ear in most mammals. As movements consist of rotations and translations, the vestibular system comprises two components: the semicircular canals, which indicate rotational movements; and the otoliths, which indicate linear accelerations.
It also contains an inner membranous sleeve that lines the semicircular canals. The canals also contain the crista ampullaris. The receptor cells located in the semicircular ducts are innervated by the eighth cranial nerve, the vestibulocochlear nerve (specifically the vestibular portion).
The human ear can nominally hear sounds in the range 20 to 20 000 Hz. The upper limit tends to decrease with age; most adults are unable to hear above 16 000 Hz. Under ideal laboratory conditions, the lowest frequency that has been identified as a musical tone is 12 Hz. [6] Tones between 4 and 16 Hz can be perceived via the body's sense of touch.