A novel artificial model of spiral ganglion cell and its spike-based encoding function

Abstract

In the mammalian inner ear, the inner hair cell transforms a sound-induced mechanical vibration into an electric potential. The spiral ganglion cell encodes the electric potential into a spike-train which is transmitted to the central nervous system. In this paper we present a novel artificial electrical circuit model of the spiral ganglion cell. We derive a return map which can analytically describe dynamics of the model. Using the map, we can derive theorems that guarantee that the presented model can realize some of important properties of the biological spiral ganglion cell. The theorems are confirmed numerically. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.