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British Medical Bulletin 43:821-837 (1987)
© 1987 The British Council

research-article

Mechanics of middle and inner ear

J P Wilson

Department of Communication of Neuroscience, University of Keele Keele

Abstract

The middle ear acts as an impedance transformer to facilitate the efficient flow of acoustic energy from the air into the fluids of the inner ear. This is achieved by pressure amplification and lever action. The middle ear muscles can stiffen-up the ossicular chain to afford some protection from loud sounds.

The cochlea not only acts as transducer from pressure vibrations to neural impulses but provides the first stage of analysis. The frequency of mechanical resonance gradually changes along the basilar membrane (BM) so that different frequencies are analysed at different positions along the BM. Recent measurements of BM vibration show that when the organ of Corti is undamaged, it is much more sharply tuned than earlier measurements showed. Sharpening appears to be due to a positive mechanical feedback of energy to the BM from the outer hair cells. Other evidence for such a process resides in otoacoustic emission (OAE) data where either evoked or spontaneous sounds can be detected in the ear canal.


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