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Re: HC selectivity ... was Re: Physiological models of cochlea activity - alternatives to the travelling wave

At 12:55 PM +1000 9/28/07, Matt Flax wrote: 
I do not think that HC frequency selectivity has anything to do with the
frequency selectivity of the Cochlea amplifier - over the range of
interest.

I agree with Matt. To the extent that you want to consider the response of hair cells to be frequency selective, that selectivity should probably be explained primarily by the hydrodynamic system that they are a part of; it is easy to model all kinds of tuning curves without any highly tuned mechanisms.

> The "gold rush" of recent decades for mathematically formulated models of 
 mammalian cochlear function can perhaps best be compared with the gold rush
 of the alchemists in the Middle Ages.

> Martin

Martin, how can one make, test, or communicate theories about a complicated system without models? Or is "mathematically formulated" meant to limit your complaint to a particular class of cochlear models? If so, can you explain more clearly what class that is, or what the alternative formulation is?

Do you really not believe in the travelling wave?

Dick