Elsevier

Hearing Research

Volume 18, Issue 1, April 1985, Pages 1-14
Hearing Research

Mechanics of the basilar membrane in Caiman crocodilus

https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-5955(85)90105-4Get rights and content

Abstract

Vibration measurements were made at a number of positions near the proximal (basal) end of the basilar membrane, and on the columella footplate, of Caiman crocodilus using a capacitive probe. The measurements established the existence of a mechanical travelling wave in this species. They showed no sigificant change of mechanical tuning with temperature, and were highly significantly different from previous reports of neural temperature sensitivity (Smolders, J. and Klinke, R. (1984): J. Comp. Physiol. 155, 19–30). Thus the neural sensitivity to temperature change appears not to depend upon basilar membrane mechanics. One interpretation of this is that the basilar membrane passively precedes an active temperature-sensitive filter. It was also found that the limbus supporting the basilar membrane had a measurable, but untuned, vibration and that the effect of draining scala tympani for the measurements was to increase the basilar membrane tuning frequency by a factor of about 1.5.

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