11 questions · 5 almanac · 0 findings

Hearing and Audiology

The physiology of hearing and its disorders.

Almanac Finding Which Way Is Up
  • How do the semicircular canals of the inner ear detect rotation and orientation?
  • Why was Bárány still a prisoner of war in Russia when his Nobel Prize was awarded?
Almanac A Piano Keyboard Coiled Into a Snail Shell
  • How does the basilar membrane in the cochlea create a travelling wave that peaks at different locations for different sound frequencies?
  • Why do high frequencies peak near the base of the cochlea and low frequencies near the apex?
  • What methods did Georg von Békésy use with cadaver ears and large-scale models to study how sound is mechanically decoded?
  • How did Békésy's model of cochlear mechanics later influence the design of cochlear implants?
Almanac A Silent Synapse, Switched Back On
  • What role does the otoferlin protein play in converting mechanical vibration into an electrical signal in the inner ear?
  • How was a functional copy of the OTOF gene delivered directly to the hair cells of the cochlea?
  • How much did hearing thresholds improve in trial participants after the gene therapy injection?