Contribution
Impact of entrainment on information processing in a generic model of some inner ear
* Presenting author
Abstract:
Mechanical processing in the ear relies is essential for the encoding of sound information. Hair cell motility (bundle- or somatic motility) is considered to play a key role in creating a high sensitivity, selectivity and dynamic range - and ultimately enable communication in complex acoustical environments. While it is well known that the auditory system is highly nonlinear, only few beneficial effects of nonlinear behaviour have been identified. In this study we use ``generic'' numerical models of oscillating systems to quantify the impact of nonlinear dynamic effects on information processing in the auditory system. The rationale behind “generic models” is to identify ubiquitous phenomena in nonlinear dynamic systems rather than focusing on phenomena of a specific species. The results show that entrainment clusters can be diversified using time-dependent metrics and statistical moments. Deviating from previous studies, elements of clusters show identical mean periodicity, but heavily skewed distributions, dependent on their position in the cluster. It can furthermore be shown that information encoding of an external driving force breaks with a strict tonotpic organization of the system, and that the statistical moments of individual oscillators have an impact on spike statistics after mechano-electrical transduction.