Subject: Re: HC selectivity ... was Re: Physiological models of cochlea activity - alternatives to the travelling wave From: "Richard F. Lyon" <DickLyon@xxxxxxxx> Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 20:58:01 -0700 List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>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