A PIEZOELECTRIC MODEL OF OUTER HAIR CELL-FUNCTION

Mammalian outer hair cells (OHC) are believed to increase cochlear sen sitivity and frequency selectivity via electromechanical feedback. A s imple piezoelectric model of outer hair cell function is presented whi ch integrates existing data from isolated OHC experiments. The model p redicts maximum OHC force production to equal 1.25 nN/mV. The model al so predicts that the maximum velocity of OHC contraction in situ to be 800 mum/s. These predictions are compared to available experimental d ata and are found to be in good agreement. The good agreement between the predicted and experimental results suggests that, at the character istic frequency of a given cochlear location, the OHC receptor current is very efficiently converted into basilar membrane motion.