Amplitude death state for hearing

TL;DR

This paper proposes that amplitude death, caused by elastic coupling of non-identical hair cells, underlies auditory transduction, enabling noise-robust detection of stimuli through coupling-dependent amplification.

Contribution

It introduces amplitude death as a novel mechanism for auditory transduction, highlighting the role of non-uniform hair cell coupling in noise robustness.

Findings

Amplitude death can quench hair cell oscillations.

Coupling-dependent amplification enhances stimulus detection.

Non-uniformity of hair cells contributes to noise robustness.

Abstract

We propose amplitude death phenomenon as an underlying mechanism of auditory transduction. When non-identical auditory hair bundles are elastically coupled, their spontaneous oscillations can be quenched to form an amplitude death state. We show, in this state, the hair cells are quiet and ready to detect oscillatory stimulus with coupling-strength dependent amplification. Numerical demonstration of the mechanism suggests that the non-uniformity of coupled hair cells can contribute to noise-robust auditory transduction.