Laser Interferometer Study Of Mach Bands Effect In Cochlear Basilar Membrane

The Mach Bands effect refers to the phenomenon that the sensory system produces a prominent response band at the boundary of two excitations with different intensities.In visual perception,this effect makes people perceive the contour of the object and plays a key role in discerning the object.This effect also exists in perceptions such as touch.In auditory,psychoacoustic experiments verified the existence of the Mach Bands effect.Researchers have speculated that this effect of hearing occurs only in the auditory cortex,while the auditory periphery has only a few linear filtering functions.However,there are two studies have shown that the Mach Bands effect may exist in the auditory periphery.One is that the electrical response of the stimulated outer hair cells in the cochlea is opposite to that the adjacent outer hair cells.The other is that our research team found that the main power of the outer hair cell hair bundle is affected by the ion concentration of the environment.The above studies suggested that the main kinetic effects of outer hair cells may cause the Mach Bands effect to occur in the vibrational response of the cochlear basement membrane.This study used a heterodyne laser interferometer to explore the Mach Bands effect in the basement membrane of the cochlea.We first observed the activity of guinea pig cochlea,then measured the vibration of the basement membrane of the cochlea,and calculate the energy of the vibration of the basement membrane.Finally,the energy change of the measurement result is compared with the energy change of the experimental design.The experimental results can clearly observe the sudden change in energy caused by the Mach Bands effect in the active cochlea.The cause of this phenomenon is the interaction of outer hair cells in the active cochlea.However,in the inactive cochlea,the energy change is basically consistent with the energy change of the experimental design.Because the function of the hair cells is impaired in the inactive cochlea.Inhibition between hair cells will also disappear.We believe this is the evidence that the Mach Bands effect exists in the hearing periphery.This research has important scientific significance for understanding the mechanism of auditory perception,and it will also guide us to improve the coding strategy of the existing electronic cochlea.And,this study is of great significance for improving the hearing recovery effect of the electronic cochlea.