Vibration measurement on reticular lamina and basilar membrane at multiple longitudinal locations

Abstract

The longitudinal distribution of the organ of Corti vibration is important for both understanding the energy delivery and the timing of the cochlear amplification. Recent development on low coherence interferomtry technique allows measuring vibration inside the cochlea. The reticular lamina (RL) vibration spectrum demonstrates that RL vibration leads the basilar membrane (BM). This phase lead is consistent with the idea that the active process may lead the BM vibration. In this study, measurements on multiple longitudinal locations demonstrated similar phase lead. Results on this study suggests that there may be another longitudinal coupling mechanism inside the cochlea other than the traveling wave on BM. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.