Mammalian cochlea as a physics guided evolution-optimized hearing sensor

TL;DR

This paper explores how nonlinear physics principles have shaped the evolution of mammalian cochleas, leading to scalable sound detection mechanisms that enhance complex sound processing.

Contribution

It reveals that nonlinear physics constrains hearing sensor evolution, distinguishing scalable mammalian cochleas from non-scalable structures in other amniotes.

Findings

Mammalian cochleas utilize scalable nonlinear sound detectors.

Evolution reduces the solution space for hearing sensors due to physics constraints.

Mammalian hearing is optimized for pitch-based sound characterization.

Abstract

Nonlinear physics plays an essential role in hearing, from sound signal generation to sound sensing to the processing of complex sound environments. We demonstrate that the evolution of the biological hearing sensors demonstrates a dramatic reduction in the solution space available for hearing sensors due to nonlinear physics principles. More specifically, our analysis hints at that the differences between amniotic lineages hearing, could be recast into a scaleable and a non-scaleable arrangement of nonlinear sound detectors. The scalable solution employed in mammals, as the most advanced design, provides a natural context that demands the ultimate characterization of complex sounds through pitch.