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Mechanoelectrical transduction assisted by Brownian motion: a role for noise in the auditory system

Nature Neuroscience volume 1, pages 384–388 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

The organs of the vestibular, auditory and lateral line systems rely on a common strategy for the stimulation of their primary receptors, the hair cells: stimuli induce shear between hair cell epithelia and accessory structures to which hair bundles, the hair cells' mechanosensitive organelles, are attached. The inner hair cells of the cochlea, whose hair bundles are not attached to the overlying tectorial membrane, are a notable exception. Because their hair bundles are not restrained, they undergo significant Brownian motion, a characteristic traditionally thought to blunt the sensitivity of hearing. Contrary to this view, the work reported here indicates that Brownian motion of the hair bundle serves to enhance the sensitivity of mechanoelectrical transduction.

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Figure 1: Control of the stimulus probe.
Figure 2: Spectral density of mechanoelectrical transduction at different noise levels.
Figure 3: Noise dependence of SNRs for mechanoelectrical transduction.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Tim Cope and Ray Dingledine for critically reading the manuscript, Richard Jacobs for technical advice, and Mario Ruggero, Ille Gebeshuber and Peter Jung for discussions. This work was supported by the NIDCD and by a grant from the Emory/Georgia Tech. Consortium.

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  1. Dept. Physiology, Emory University School of Medicine , 1648 Pierce Dr., Atlanta, 30322, Georgia, USA

    Fernán Jaramillo

  2. School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, 30332, Georgia, USA

    Kurt Wiesenfeld

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  1. Fernán Jaramillo
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  2. Kurt Wiesenfeld
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Correspondence to Fernán Jaramillo.

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Jaramillo, F., Wiesenfeld, K. Mechanoelectrical transduction assisted by Brownian motion: a role for noise in the auditory system. Nat Neurosci 1, 384–388 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/1597

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