Elementary biophysics: selected topics elementarybiophy00epst Year: 1963 48 PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF HEARING which finally transmit the vibrations, and the associated pressures, to the cochlea fluid filling the canals. There are two kinds of resonance theories possible at this point: one based on resonances in the fluid, the other on resonances in the mem- branes. It can be shown that fluid resonances are physically excluded for a variety of reasons. Consider the schematic representation of the cochlea in Fig. 21(c). Here the cochlea has been shown as a straight tube with its two parts separated
Elementary biophysics: selected topics elementarybiophy00epst Year: 1963 48 PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF HEARING which finally transmit the vibrations, and the associated pressures, to the cochlea fluid filling the canals. There are two kinds of resonance theories possible at this point: one based on resonances in the fluid, the other on resonances in the mem- branes. It can be shown that fluid resonances are physically excluded for a variety of reasons. Consider the schematic representation of the cochlea in Fig. 21(c). Here the cochlea has been shown as a straight tube with its two parts separated by a membrane (we neglect the cochlear duct here—it simply makes the dividing membrane more com- plicated). The aperture (helicotrema) connecting the two parts is also shown. The actual cochlea would differ from the schematic one chiefly in being twisted around into the snail-like shape. When the stapes moves in response to an impulse entering the ear, the fluid is pushed. If the canals were filled with a gas or a compressible liquid, waves could travel along the canal and bounce off the other end, (a)
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