Modeling auditory transducer dynamics.
OBJECTIVE
This article reviews the literature on the modeling of auditory transducer dynamics. Theoretical descriptions and computational models of transducer dynamics are presented and discussed.


RESULTS
Since the introduction of the gating-spring model of hair cell mechanotransduction in 1983, theories of auditory transducer dynamics have been developed along with the accumulation of electrophysiological and mechanical data. Recent findings suggest that the auditory transduction apparatus might be very similar across vertebrates and invertebrates, and that auditory transducer dynamics can shape the performance of entire hearing organs.


CONCLUSIONS
The sense of hearing relies on a small number of transduction modules that convert minute mechanical stimuli into electrical signals. Models have been proposed that describe how this transduction works. These models may help to understand the biophysics of mechanoelectrical signal transduction, the contribution of transducer dynamics to auditory signal processing, and to link transducer function and genes.
Nadrowski
Björn
B
Department of Cellular Neurobiology, Blumenbach Institute, University of Göttingen, Max-Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany. bnadrow@gwdg.de
Göpfert
Martin C
MC
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001703:Biophysics; D002118:Calcium / Q000502:physiology; D019295:Computational Biology; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D006199:Hair Cells, Auditory, Inner / Q000502:physiology; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular / Q000502:physiology*; D013269:Stochastic Processes
D002118:Calcium