Re: Function of Cochlear Nucleus cell types

[Sunil Puria <puria@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There is a nice article about this by D. Manoussaki, E. K. Dimitriadis, and R. S. Chadwick.

Why the Inner Ear is Snail-Shaped

Published March 3, 2006  |  Phys. Rev. Focus 17, 8 (2006)  |  DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevFocus.17.8

The spiral shape of the cochlea enhances its ability to detect low frequency sounds.

See: http://physics.aps.org/story/v17/st8 

On Jan 6, 2014, at 3:02 PM, Richard F. Lyon <dicklyon@xxxxxxx> wrote:

That's an interesting question, too, Randy, but likely not very related to cochlear nucleus.

I've gotten a few pointers so far, and requests to share the results.  I'll do that.

Dick

On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 8:59 AM, Ranjit Randhawa <rsran@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In addition I would like to add that the answers should also describe why the cochlea is shaped like it is. This is to satisfy the old dictum in biology, "form follows function", which as far as I know has never been answered. But if it is, maybe a reference could be added. There seems to be a lot of effort based on the reverse, "function follows form", and I have been wondering whether that there is any truth in that? Thanks for bringing this up to start the New Year, looking forward to the responses. Best regards,
Randy Randhawa

Sunil Puria, PhD

Stanford University

Depts. of ME & OHNS

OtoBiomechanics Group

http://www.stanford.edu/people/puria