豚鼠耳蜗基底膜的振动特性

为探讨豚鼠耳蜗基底膜的听觉机制,利用多普勒激光测振技术进行了声音在28只成年健康豚鼠耳中传递的测试实验.将豚鼠麻醉后切断头取出听泡,采用电钻暴露其耳蜗基底膜,利用多普勒激光测振仪在给定的声压级、频率的纯音激励条件下测量豚鼠外耳道耳蜗基底膜的振动速度,并测量了中耳镫骨的振动速度.结果表明,豚鼠外耳道基底膜具有频率选择特性,而且其基底膜的振动具有行波特性.     

Developmental alterations in the frequency map of the mammalian cochlea

The position of an auditory hair cell along the length of the cochlea determines the sound frequency to which it is most sensitive. Receptors located near the proximal end (base) of the cochlea are maximally stimulated by high-frequency sounds; those occupying successively more distal (apical) positions respond best to progressively lower frequencies. At present, it is unclear how this frequency place map emerges with respect to the development of the cochlea. It has been suggested, on the basis of acoustic trauma experiments with developing chicks and cochlear potential recordings from developing gerbils, that this map may arise through systematic changes in the spatial encoding of frequency along the cochlea. Others have inferred from frequency tuning curves derived from auditory-nerve recordings in developing mammals and chicks, that the cochlear frequency-place map remains stable throughout development. We analysed frequency tuning curves obtained from gerbil spiral ganglion cells at a constant location within the basal cochlea, and report here that these cells undergo significant increases (up to 1.5 octaves) in their best-response frequencies between the second and third weeks of postnatal life. These recordings provide direct evidence for developmental changes in the tonotopic organization of the mammalian cochlea.     

Auditory collusion and a coupled couple of outer hair cells.

The discrepancies between measured frequency responses of the basilar membrane in the inner ear and the frequency tuning found in psychophysical experiments led to Bekesy's idea of lateral inhibition in the auditory nervous system. We now know that basilar membrane tuning can account for neural tuning, and that sharpening of the passive travelling wave depends on the mechanical activity of outer hair cells (OHCs)3, but the mechanism by which OHCs enhance tuning remains unclear. OHCs generate voltage-dependent length changes at acoustic rates, which deform the cochlear partition. Here we use an electrical correlate of OHC mechanical activity, the motility-related gating current, to investigate mechano-electrical interactions among adjacent OHCs. We show that the motility caused by voltage stimulation of one cell in a group evokes gating currents in adjacent OHCs. The resulting polarization in adjacent cells is opposite to that within the stimulated cell, which may be indicative of lateral inhibition. Also such interactions promote distortion and suppression in the electrical and, consequently, the mechanical activity of OHCs. Lateral interactions may provide a basis for enhanced frequency selectivity in the basilar membrane of mammals.     

Sound-induced motility of isolated cochlear outer hair cells is frequency-specific

The inner ear is capable of highly selective frequency discrimination. This is achieved not only by the travelling wave of the basilar membrane in the cochlear partition, but also by the active participation of nonlinear and vulnerable elements that enhance frequency selectivity. It has been shown that isolated mammalian outer hair cells respond with a change in length when subjected to sound stimulation at a fixed frequency. Here we investigate the motile behaviour of isolated cells when the stimulus frequency is varied between 200 and 10,000 Hz. By varying the frequency and the intensity of the tone, it is possible to obtain 'tuning curves' for the motile response. We demonstrate that the cell body of solitary hair cells, free from contact with the basilar membrane, shows a sharply tuned motile behaviour. We suggest that frequency selectivity in the organ of Corti is amplified by the tuned motility of the cell body of outer hair cells.     

Structural alteration of hair cells in the contralateral ear resulting from extracochlear electrical stimulation

Chronic electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve in patients with profound sensori-neural deafness is becoming increasingly routine. Therefore, it is important to understand more about the long-term consequences of this procedure. Hitherto, structural studies in animals after electrocochlear stimulation have concentrated on the stimulated cochlea. Here we have examined the effects of unilateral extracochlear electrical stimulation on the spiral organ of both the ipsilateral and contralateral ears of the mature guinea pig, and have found alterations in the structure of the outer hair cells and their efferent nerve terminals in the contralateral as well as the ipsilateral cochlea. This is the first evidence for a structural influence of efferent activity on the cochlea. Although the importance of the efferent system, consisting of the crossed and uncrossed olivo-cochlear bundles, is well established in providing central control of the sensory pathways, its exact role in hearing is incompletely understood. However, it is known that the outer hair cells and their efferent innervation are important in their contribution to inner hair cell responses and in modulating the micromechanics of the whole cochlea. These efferent functions now appear to be related to an important part of cochlear morphology, and are also relevant to our understanding of cochlear neurobiology, normal development and the management of hearing disability in both adult and child.     

Two-tone distortion in the basilar membrane of the cochlea

When humans listen to pairs of thnes they hear additional tones, or distortion products, that are not present in the stimulus. Two-tone distortion products are also known as combination tones, because their pitches match combinations of the primary frequencies (f1 and f2, f2 greater than f1), such as f2-f1, (n + 1)f1-nf2 and (n + 1)f2-nf1 (n = 1, 2, 3...). Physiological correlates of the perceived distortion products exist in responses of auditory-nerve fibres and inner hair cells and in otoacoustic emissions (sounds generated by the cochlea, recordable at the ear canal). Because the middle ear responds linearly to sound and neural responses to distortion products can be abolished by damage to hair cells at cochlear sites preferentially tuned to the frequencies of the primary tones, it was hypothesized that distortion products are generated at these sites and propagate mechanically along the basilar membrane to the location tuned to the distortion-product frequency. But until now, efforts to confirm this hypothesis have failed. Here we report the use of a new laser-velocimetry technique to demonstrate two-tone distortion in basilar-membrane motion at low and moderate stimulus intensities.     

Prestin is required for electromotility of the outer hair cell and for the cochlear amplifier

Hearing sensitivity in mammals is enhanced by more than 40 dB (that is, 100-fold) by mechanical amplification thought to be generated by one class of cochlear sensory cells, the outer hair cells. In addition to the mechano-electrical transduction required for auditory sensation, mammalian outer hair cells also perform electromechanical transduction, whereby transmembrane voltage drives cellular length changes at audio frequencies in vitro. This electromotility is thought to arise through voltage-gated conformational changes in a membrane protein, and prestin has been proposed as this molecular motor. Here we show that targeted deletion of prestin in mice results in loss of outer hair cell electromotility in vitro and a 40-60 dB loss of cochlear sensitivity in vivo, without disruption of mechano-electrical transduction in outer hair cells. In heterozygotes, electromotility is halved and there is a twofold (about 6 dB) increase in cochlear thresholds. These results suggest that prestin is indeed the motor protein, that there is a simple and direct coupling between electromotility and cochlear amplification, and that there is no need to invoke additional active processes to explain cochlear sensitivity in the mammalian ear.     

Chimaeric sounds reveal dichotomies in auditory perception

By Fourier's theorem, signals can be decomposed into a sum of sinusoids of different frequencies. This is especially relevant for hearing, because the inner ear performs a form of mechanical Fourier transform by mapping frequencies along the length of the cochlear partition. An alternative signal decomposition, originated by Hilbert, is to factor a signal into the product of a slowly varying envelope and a rapidly varying fine time structure. Neurons in the auditory brainstem sensitive to these features have been found in mammalian physiological studies. To investigate the relative perceptual importance of envelope and fine structure, we synthesized stimuli that we call 'auditory chimaeras', which have the envelope of one sound and the fine structure of another. Here we show that the envelope is most important for speech reception, and the fine structure is most important for pitch perception and sound localization. When the two features are in conflict, the sound of speech is heard at a location determined by the fine structure, but the words are identified according to the envelope. This finding reveals a possible acoustic basis for the hypothesized 'what' and 'where' pathways in the auditory cortex.     

考虑流体影响的水轮机叶轮固有频率

将工作时水轮机叶轮简化为浸在流体中的旋转圆盘,建立了流体中圆盘振动微分方程,并考虑边界条件对其固有频率的影响.分别研究了不同圆盘转速、不同流体深度以及不同流体密度对固有频率的影响.研究结果表明,与真空中圆盘的固有频率相比,沉浸在流体中的圆盘的固有频率降低.当浸在流体中的圆盘发生旋转时,圆盘的模态由驻波变为行波,不同的旋转方向将对应两个不同的固有频率值.当流体深度减小时,固有频率值降低;流体密度越大,固有频率越小.     

Stereocilin-deficient mice reveal the origin of cochlear waveform distortions

Although the cochlea is an amplifier and a remarkably sensitive and finely tuned detector of sounds, it also produces conspicuous mechanical and electrical waveform distortions. These distortions reflect nonlinear mechanical interactions within the cochlea. By allowing one tone to suppress another (masking effect), they contribute to speech intelligibility. Tones can also combine to produce sounds with frequencies not present in the acoustic stimulus. These sounds compose the otoacoustic emissions that are extensively used to screen hearing in newborns. Because both cochlear amplification and distortion originate from the outer hair cells-one of the two types of sensory receptor cells-it has been speculated that they stem from a common mechanism. Here we show that the nonlinearity underlying cochlear waveform distortions relies on the presence of stereocilin, a protein defective in a recessive form of human deafness. Stereocilin was detected in association with horizontal top connectors, lateral links that join adjacent stereocilia within the outer hair cell's hair bundle. These links were absent in stereocilin-null mutant mice, which became progressively deaf. At the onset of hearing, however, their cochlear sensitivity and frequency tuning were almost normal, although masking was much reduced and both acoustic and electrical waveform distortions were completely lacking. From this unique functional situation, we conclude that the main source of cochlear waveform distortions is a deflection-dependent hair bundle stiffness resulting from constraints imposed by the horizontal top connectors, and not from the intrinsic nonlinear behaviour of the mechanoelectrical transducer channel.     

用小波变换实现电子耳蜗CIS语音信号的处理

为克服以往滤波器组参数调整复杂问题和实现电子耳蜗语音处理的快速数字化计算,提出了将小波变换应用于电子耳蜗的语音处理。介绍了电子耳蜗的机理及连续交替取样（ Ｃ Ｉ Ｓ）语音信号处理方案,并对耳蜗的频率分析特性与小波变换的时间—尺度分析特点进行了比较; 讨论了用小波变换实现 Ｃ Ｉ Ｓ语音信号处理方案的方法及仿真结果,给出尺度的选择依据,并与滤波器组的分析方法进行了比较。结果表明,用小波变换实现电子耳蜗的 Ｃ Ｉ Ｓ语音信号处理方案是可行的     

Mechanoelectrical transduction of adult outer hair cells studied in a gerbil hemicochlea

Sensory receptor cells of the mammalian cochlea are morphologically and functionally dichotomized. Inner hair cells transmit auditory information to the brain, whereas outer hair cells (OHC) amplify the mechanical signal, which is then transduced by inner hair cells. Amplification by OHCs is probably mediated by their somatic motility in a mechanical feedback process. OHC motility in vivo is thought to be driven by the cell's receptor potential. The first steps towards the generation of the receptor potential are the deflection of the stereociliary bundle, and the subsequent flow of transducer current through the mechanosensitive transducer channels located at their tips. Quantitative relations between transducer currents and basilar membrane displacements are lacking, as well as their variation along the cochlear length. To address this, we simultaneously recorded OHC transducer currents (or receptor potentials) and basilar membrane motion in an excised and bisected cochlea, the hemicochlea. This preparation permits recordings from adult OHCs at various cochlear locations while the basilar membrane is mechanically stimulated. Furthermore, the stereocilia are deflected by the same means of stimulation as in vivo. Here we show that asymmetrical transducer currents and receptor potentials are significantly larger than previously thought, they possess a highly restricted dynamic range and strongly depend on cochlear location.     

基于Rayleigh-Ritz法的复合材料薄壁圆柱壳热屈曲和热模态分析

摘要：热环境中的结构受热效应等的影响,结构刚度会发生变化,进而结构振动模态对几何参数、材料参数等的敏感性也会改变。针对纤维增强复合材料圆柱壳,建立能量方程,计入面内热载荷对圆柱壳做功,使用Rayleigh-Ritz法求解屈曲温度及振动频率等,使用有限元法验证了计算模型的准确性。重点关注了不同的几何参数、铺设角度及铺设方式下温度对圆柱壳的振型的影响。研究结果表明振动模态越接近屈曲模态,温度对频率的影响越大,且各阶振型的周向波数不同,温度对振动频率的影响也不同;圆柱壳越厚或越短,基频振型的周向波数越多;温度小于0.95倍屈曲温度时,温度增加基本不改变基频的振型,但接近屈曲温度时,在某些铺设角度下,某些振型的频率下降至低于原基频,发生振型跃迁。     

基于听觉图像的音乐流派自动分类

音乐流派的自动分类是音乐信息检索系统的重要组成部分.将听觉图像引入音乐流派的分类研究中,用听觉图像模型模拟人耳耳蜗结构,基于音乐流派分类研究常用的GTZAN数据库,将一维音频信号转换为二维听觉图像,对音乐听觉图像进行尺度不变特征转换（SIFT）及空间金字塔匹配（SPM）,从局部到整体地提取图像的纹理特征,最后采用LibSVM中线性核函数的支持向量机对音乐流派进行分类.实验结果表明,与同样基于人耳耳蜗结构提出的美尔频率倒谱系数（MFCC）流派分类方法相比,基于听觉图像的流派分类正确率提高15%.     

中耳正向与逆向压力增益模拟

为分析中耳的声传递特性,采用声场与结构耦合的人耳有限元模型模拟声音在中耳中正向和逆向传递过程,分别获得外耳道声音激励经听骨链传递到耳蜗的中耳正向压力增益,以及耳蜗声音激励经中耳传递到外耳道的逆向压力增益．通过中耳正、逆向压力增益的乘积来分析声音在中耳往返传递的压力增益,评价中耳对耳声发射传递的影响．在1-3kHz范围内,计算结果显示中耳往返压力增益平均值为-18dB．     

Outer hair cells in the mammalian cochlea and noise-induced hearing loss

Hair cells in the mammalian cochlea transduce mechanical stimuli into electrical signals leading to excitation of auditory nerve fibres. Because of their important role in hearing, these cells are a possible site for the loss of cochlear sensitivity that follows acoustic overstimulation. We have recorded from inner and outer hair cells (IHC, OHC) in the guinea pig cochlea during and after exposure to intense tones. Our results show functional changes in the hair cells that may explain the origin of noise-induced hearing loss. Both populations of hair cells show a reduction in amplitude and an increase in the symmetry of their acoustically evoked receptor potentials. In addition, the OHCs also suffer a sustained depolarization of the membrane potential. Significantly, the membrane and receptor potentials of the OHCs recover in parallel with cochlear sensitivity as measured by the IHC receptor potential amplitude and the auditory nerve threshold. Current theories of acoustic transduction suggest that the mechanical input to IHCs may be regulated by the OHCs. Consequently, the modified function of OHCs after acoustic overstimulation may determine the extent of the hearing loss following loud sound.     

基于SPH方法的二维矩形舱液体晃荡数值研究

储液舱内液体晃荡是当外激激励频率与容器内部液体自由液面的固有频率接近时,液体产生的剧烈共振运动.采用光滑粒子流体动力学(SPH)方法,在二维矩形舱低载液率横荡和横摇激励下,自由液面共振频率附近4个激励频率处开展数值研究.对比数值和对应实验中全局自由液面波形和冲击压力时程发现,SPH方法可以很好地模拟液体晃荡时的波形,如水跃、破碎波等自由液面的大变形运动.此外,该方法可用于模拟和评估非共振区域晃荡荷载的特性.建议采用两相流来模拟共振频率下液体剧烈的晃荡运动.     

Dynamics of the amphibian middle ear.

Using laser speckle interferometry, we show that the directional information of acoustic signals is encoded in the motion of eardrum. Moreover, the frequency sensitivity of the auditory system is determined by the mechanical properties of the middle ear, which acts like a damped resonator.     

Ionic basis of membrane potential in outer hair cells of guinea pig cochlea

Mammalian hearing involves features not found in other species, for example, the separation of sound frequencies depends on an active control of the cochlear mechanics. The force-generating component in the cochlea is likely to be the outer hair cell (OHC), one of the two types of sensory cell through which current is gated by mechano-electrical transducer channels sited on the apical surface. Outer hair cells isolated in vitro have been shown to be motile and capable of generating forces at acoustic frequencies. The OHC membrane is not, however, electrically tuned, as found in lower vertebrates. Here we describe how the OHC resting potential is determined by a Ca2+-activated K+ conductance at the base of the cell. Two channel types with unitary sizes of 240 and 45 pS underlie this Ca2+-activated K+ conductance and we suggest that their activity is determined by a Ca2+ influx through the apical transducer channel, as demonstrated in other hair cells. This coupled system simultaneously explains the large OHC resting potentials observed in vivo and indicates how the current gated by the transducer may be maximized to generate the forces required in cochlear micromechanics.     

一种超声蠕动微流体驱动模型的动力学研究

提出了基于超声行波和体积置换原理的超声蠕动微流体驱动模型.阐述了模型的驱动原理;利用有限元模型进行模态分析,预测了振动模态的谐振频率;通过瞬态动力学分析和谐响应分析观察腔体移动情况,得到了模型的幅频响应特性.为准确进行流体驱动效果分析,在模型内部填充流体介质进行声固耦合分析,得到了各个模态的振型和频率.通过对B(0,5)模态进行流固耦合分析,得到了模型内流体的运动情况,流体域的最大前向速度为15.5mm/s,最大体积流量为13.3ml/min.