Abstract

The workshop brought together experts in genetics, molecular and cellular biology, physiology, engineering, physics, mathematics, audiology and medicine to present current work and to review the critical issues of inner ear function. A special emphasis of the workshop was on analytical model based studies. Experimentalists and theoreticians thus shared their points of view. The topics ranged from consideration of the hearing organ as a system to the study and modeling of individual auditory cells including molecular aspects of function. Some of the topics in the book are: motor proteins in hair cells; mechanical and electrical aspects of transduction by motor proteins; function of proteins in stereocilia of hair cells; production of acoustic force by stereocilia, mechanical properties of hair cells and the organ of Corti; mechanical vibration of the organ of Corti; wave propagation in tissue and fluids of the inner ear; sound amplification in the cochlea; critical oscillations; cochlear nonlinearity, and mechanisms for the production of otoacoustic emissions. This book will be invaluable to researchers and students in auditory science.