Model for the Nonlinear Characteristics of Cochlear Potentials

Abstract

In an effort to clarify certain ideas about the nonlinear behavior of the cochlea, simple nonlinear network was studied. The network was constructed to produce peak‐clipping distortion similar to that seen in the cochlear microphonic (CM) of the basal turn of the cochlea. The interference between pairs of tones and the growth of combination tones as well as other manifestations of nonlinearity were similar for the ear and for the network. The degree of similarity between the output of the network and CM from the ear is shown by instantaneous waveforms and by input‐output functions. An important finding of this paper is that the linearization effect of two‐tone interference in the ear is a property of nonlinear systems, which occurs in the network also. The results also support recent theories that summating potential (SP) is produced by asymmetric nonlinearities in the ear.