title: Iterated intracochlear reflection shapes the envelopes of basilar-membrane click responses.
abstract: Multiple internal reflection of cochlear traveling waves has been argued to provide a plausible explanation for the waxing and waning and other temporal structures often exhibited by the envelopes of basilar-membrane (BM) and auditory-nerve responses to acoustic clicks. However, a recent theoretical analysis of a BM click response measured in chinchilla concludes that the waveform cannot have arisen via any equal, repetitive process, such as iterated intracochlear reflection [Wit and Bell (2015), J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 138, 94-96]. Reanalysis of the waveform contradicts this conclusion. The measured BM click response is used to derive the frequency-domain transfer function characterizing every iteration of the loop. The selfsame transfer function that yields waxing and waning of the BM click response also captures the spectral features of ear-canal stimulus-frequency otoacoustic emissions measured in the same animal, consistent with the predictions of multiple internal reflection. Small shifts in transfer-function phase simulate results at different measurement locations and reproduce the heterogeneity of BM click response envelopes observed experimentally.
authors.affiliation: Eaton-Peabody Laboratory of Auditory Physiology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Shera
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000162:Acoustics; D000818:Animals; D001489:Basilar Membrane / Q000294:innervation*; D002682:Chinchilla; D003051:Cochlea / Q000294:innervation*; D003056:Cochlear Nerve / Q000502:physiology*; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D009038:Motion; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous; D013016:Sound; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013997:Time Factors