Outer hair cells provide active frequency-selective amplification in the cochlea

Evidence

In Figure 19.3c, the outer hair cells are completely destroyed, and the corresponding tuning curve is very flat and ‘untuned’ compared to normal hearing. In this case, the resulting tuning curve depicts the passive amplification characteristics of the basilar membrane without the active effect of the outer hair cells, which, in a normally functioning ear, would increase the frequency selectivity and provide level-dependent amplification, or compression. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 2669

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the active vs passive amplification mechanism of outer hair cells in the basilar membrane.