Tectorial Membrane Traveling Waves Underlie Sharp Auditory Tuning in Humans

• Main Authors: Nakajima, Hideko H (Author), Farrahi, Shirin (Contributor), Ghaffari, Roozbeh (Contributor), Sellon, Jonathan Blake (Contributor), Freeman, Dennis M. (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Harvard University- (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier, 2017-09-18T15:10:04Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

Our ability to understand speech requires neural tuning with high frequency resolution, but the peripheral mechanisms underlying sharp tuning in humans remain unclear. Sharp tuning in genetically modified mice has been attributed to decreases in spread of excitation of tectorial membrane traveling waves. Here we show that the spread of excitation of tectorial membrane waves is similar in humans and mice, although the mechanical excitation spans fewer frequencies in humans-suggesting a possible mechanism for sharper tuning.
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01-DC00238)