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New Research Shows Tectorial Membrane Plays a More Active Role in Helping Us Hear
A “column” of three outer hair cells and one inner hair cell beneath the tectorial membrane (blue). Roughly 3,500 such columns wind their way along the cochlear spiral, with each column processing a different sound frequency.
When you play a piano, the strings may supply the musical tones, but if it weren’t for the wooden hammers striking the strings, you wouldn’t hear a note. New research from the NIDCD suggests that the ear may be built in much the same way. While most of the credit for detecting sound is paid to the hair cells in our inner ear, a membrane that lies immediately above these cells, called the tectorial membrane, could be playing a larger role in the hearing process than scientists once thought.
In a study published in the March 18, 2009, issue of the journal PLoS ONE, Richard Chadwick, Ph.D., and Núria Gavara, Ph.D., both of the NIDCD’s Auditory Mechanics Section, used nanotechnology techniques to devise a new method for studying the properties of the tectorial membrane. They wanted to test how soft or stiff the membrane is along the cochlea, and how these properties might affect a hair cell’s ability to convert sound vibrations into an electrical signal.
Read the NIDCD Web article. Learn more about Dr. Chadwick’s and Gavara’s research.
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