Abstract
The ear relies on nonlinear amplification to enhance its sensitivity and frequency selectivity. It has been suggested that this active process results from dynamical systems which oscillate spontaneously. In the bullfrog sacculus, hair bundles, which are the mechanosensitive elements of sensory hair cells display noisy oscillations. These oscillations can be described in a simple model which takes into account the properties of mechanosensitive ion channels coupled to motor proteins which are regulated by inflowing Ca2+ ions. The role of fluctuations can be studied by adding random forcing terms with characteristic amplitudes that result from the number and properties of ion channels and motor molecules. This description can account quantitatively for the experimentally measured linear and nonlinear response functions and reveals the relevance of fluctuations for signal detection.
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