Steady-state sinusoidal velocity responses of the basilar membrane in guinea pig

This report provides a detailed analysis of tone-evoked velocity responses of basilar membrane (BM) motion measured in the basal turn of the guinea pig cochlea. A laser Doppler vibrometer, coupled to a compound microscope, measured the velocity of reflective microbeads placed onto the scala tympani surface of the BM. The velocity responses of the stapes footplate were also determined, allowing the calculation of a BM transfer function. The normal transfer function is compared to that seen with cochlear 'insensitivity' and postmortem. This comparison results in measures of the active process contribution to the magnitude and phase of the BM transfer function. It was found that the active process contributed as much as 65 dB of 'gain' and 270° of phase lag at the best frequency. Other details about features of input/output velocity functions and the derived mechanical frequency-tuning curve at a criterion of 50 μm/s are analyzed.