Jozef Zwislocki: Impact on models of coding in the auditory nerve

Abstract

The auditory nerve has long been considered a window on the biophysical mechanisms of cochlear transduction and the most carefully characterized aspect of the responses of single auditory‐nerve fibers has been the tuning curve. Perhaps the most intensively studied question in auditory theory is: What is the relationship between the shapes of these tuning curves and basilar membrane displacements? The basilar membrane measurements of Georg von Bekesy stimulated a generation of basilar‐membrane modelers, none more notable than Joe Zwislocki, who was awarded the first von Bekesy Medal by the Acoustical Society in 1985. The impact of Zwislocki’s basilar membrane models on our understanding of auditory nerve tuning will be reviewed. The properties of auditory‐nerve discharge patterns are also shaped by the filtering properties of the hair cell/synapse complex. The major contributions of Joe and his students to our understanding of this filtering through their elegant experimental and modeling studies of adaptation in the auditory nerve will be presented. Throughout his career, Joe Zwislocki has maintained an active interest in loudness summation and his work in relating the input/output characteristics of auditory‐nerve fibers to loudness will be highlighted.