Mini-Review
Volume 1 Issue 1
Jan Myjkowski*
April 05, 2023
Abstract
According to the Georg von Bekesy’s theory of traveling wave, announced in 1928, a sound wave from the eardrum travels to the receptor through the middle ear, cochlear fluids, basilemma and bending of the acoustic cell hairs. An analysis of the mechanisms of transmission of information indicates a large number of problems related to the conveyance of a sound signal traveling this way. Experimental studies corroborate some objections which regard as follows:
Disappearance of the sound wave on the way to the receptor.
Threshold hearing according to this theory, which is impossible due to wave energy disappearance.
Impossible is a resonance of very short audible sounds.
Inertia in the ear, which creates problems in the case of high frequencies.
Resolution of the lowest frequencies according to the wave length.
Calculation of the basilemma’s proper vibrations in line with Bekesy’s theory.
Difference in the wave speed in cochlear fluids and the basilemma.
Amplification of quiet tones, especially multitones.
Time for generating a receptor potential
Lack of transmission of high frequencies after stapedectomy.
Immobilization of the basilemma in a cochlear implant, which does not affect the hearing.
Mechanism of converting the sound wave energy into the receptor potential.
In total, those ambiguities related to the traveling wave theory have led to a new theory of hearing under the name ‘Submolecular Theory of Hearing’. The difference consists in acknowledging another signal path to the receptor, accepting the molecular mechanisms of generating receptor potential without tip-links and amplification of quiet sounds through intercellular transformations.
Keywords: Inertia; resonance; receptor potential; basal membrane
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