Hopf-bifurcations and Van der Pol oscillator models of the mammalian cochlea

Abstract

The successful modeling of the non-linear behavior in stiffness properties of hair bundles of auditory hair cells in sub-mammals and in vitro preparations of mammalian hair cells has stimulated several investigators to propose far-reaching similarity of the functioning of the mammalian organ of Corti. Models have been proposed that share the common background of a Hopf-bifurcation and its relation to a newly defined class of critical oscillators. Some of the proposals are rather similar to the classical line of nonlinear cochlea models whereas others start with assumptions that put them in a different class. It can be shown that the Hopf-bifurcation and the Van der Pol oscillator belong to the same class of nonlinear models. Differences between the models arise at the physical definition of the parameters, and at the question: how to account for individual SOAE patterns. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.