title: Auditory mechanics of the tectorial membrane and the cochlear spiral.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This review is timely and relevant because new experimental and theoretical findings suggest that cochlear mechanics from the nanoscale to the macroscale are affected by the mechanical properties of the tectorial membrane and the cochlea's spiral shape.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Main tectorial membrane themes addressed in this review are composition and morphology, nanoscale mechanical interactions with the outer hair cell bundle, macroscale longitudinal coupling, fluid interaction with inner hair cell bundles, and macroscale dynamics and waves. Main cochlear spiral themes are macroscale, low-frequency energy focusing and microscale organ of Corti shear gain.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recent experimental and theoretical findings reveal exquisite sensitivity of cochlear mechanical performance to tectorial membrane structural organization, mechanics, and its positioning with respect to hair bundles. The cochlear spiral geometry is a major determinant of low-frequency hearing. These findings suggest a number of important research directions.
authors.affiliation: Auditory Mechanics Section, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Núria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gavara
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Manoussaki
authors.forename: Richard S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Chadwick
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003051:Cochlea / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003055:Cochlear Microphonic Potentials; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000502:physiology; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D013680:Tectorial Membrane / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure