Cannell, John Kingesley (1969) Cochlear models. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The intention of the research activity described in this thesis is to contribute to the dynamical theory of the cochlea of the human inner ear.

The Science of Hearing, being disseminated in a wide range of frequently independent or unco-ordinated disciplines, is advancing far in the fields of subjective human acoustics, middle ear restorative surgery, medical diagnostic electro-encephalography and cochlear-nucleus-to-thalamus neural communications research. At the same time, exploitation, in auditory research, of the techniques and resources of modern engineering science, which may be particularly appropriately applied to analyses of the peripheral hearing system, has not been manifest to any great degree. It was therefore hoped that a first-principles engineering approach to the subject of cochlear action would demonstrate the need for a mathematical and quantitative type of analysis of the response of this key organ of hearing and also indicate the extent to which cochlear science is at present to be found in a state of disarray.

The writer's principal thesis is that a considerably greater potential for discrimination of the frequencies and intensities of pure and complex tones is attributable to the mechanical action of the cochlea than is generally supposed. That thesis will be more fully proven (it is expected) when current research is considerably extended and improved to permit the computation of spatial arrays of cochlear hair cell cilia shearing force patterns and electrical responses. The studies reported herein are relevant and fundamental to this aim and are limited to considerations of the dynamical response of the cochlear partition as a whole.

This research has included approximately equal parts of review, physical cochlear model experimentation and mathematical analysis. The first two chapters end sections of most of the other chapters concentrate on defining the system and reviewing the literature. Chapters 3 and 4 estimate the order and ranges of the physical properties of mass and stiffness of the scala media (or cochlear partition), these properties being essential to the subsequent design of both physical and mathematical models of the cochlea in Chapters 5 and 6 respectively. The final chapter adds to the comments in other chapters on the credibility of the physical constants previously deduced in the thesis and tested in the models, the performance of the models, the particular problems clearly requiring further research effort and the relevance of the work to a more complete comprehension of human auditory theory.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	Q Science > QP Physiology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Cochlea, Cochlea -- Mechanical properties, Hearing -- Physiological aspects, Ear -- Models, Cochlea -- Models
Official Date:	September 1969
Dates:	Date Event September 1969 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	School of Engineering
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Marples, V.
Sponsors:	Science Research Council (Great Britain)
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	1 volume (various pagings) : illustrations, charts
Language:	eng

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