title: How the ear's works work: mechanoelectrical transduction and amplification by hair cells.
abstract: The sensitivity of our hearing is enhanced by an active process that both amplifies and tunes the movements of the ear's sensory receptors, the hair cells. In a quiet environment, the active process can even evoke spontaneous emission of sounds from an ear. Recent research indicates that, at least in non-mammalian tetrapods, the active process results from the interaction of negative stiffness in the mechanosensitive hair bundles with two motor processes, one due to myosin-based adaptation and the other to Ca2+ -dependent reclosure of transduction channels. These three processes together explain many of the complex phenomena characteristic of the hearing process.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY USA. hudspaj@rockefeller.edu
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hudspeth
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000502:physiology; D004423:Ear / Q000502:physiology*; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D009218:Myosins / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D009218:Myosins; D002118:Calcium