Transmitting sound waves to sound II (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, August 15, 2020, 22:16 (1559 days ago) @ David Turell

The process is further understood:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200814142948.htm

"The paper, out today in Science Advances, examines how hair cells transform mechanical forces arising from sound waves into a neural electrical signal, a process called mechano-electric transduction (MET). Hair cells possess an intrinsic ability to fine-tune the sensitivity of the MET process (termed adaptation), which underlies our capacity to detect a wide range of sound intensities and frequencies with extremely high precision.

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"Ancillary experiments conducted over the ensuing decades have suggested that a motor protein, myosin 1c, is required for MET adaptation. Through multiple experiments and a variety of controls, Anschutz researchers determined that this existing hypothesis needs to be reexamined; that although adaptation does require myosin motors, it does not involve a mechanical change in the hair bundle.

"Anschutz researchers performed a series of sophisticated experiments to examine the relationship between the mechanical properties of the hair bundle and the electrical response of the hair cell. Using a custom-built high-speed imaging technique, Giusy Caprara, PhD, post-doctoral fellow at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and lead author of the study, performed simultaneous electrical recording and imaging of hair cells in a variety of mammalian species at 10,000 frames per second to examine the mechanical changes to the hair bundle during adaptation, an extreme departure from the experiments of 1987 which used photodiodes. "

Comment: Hair movement vibrations send electrical impulses to the brain for sound interpretation. Amazing, and still not fully understood. Design required.