Basic Mechanisms in Hearing is a collection of papers that discusses the function of the auditory system covering its ultrastructure, physiology, and the mechanism's connection with experimental psychology. Papers review the mechanics, morphology, and physiology of the cochlear, including the physiology of individual hair cells and their synapses. One paper examines the combined physiological and anatomical studies of stimulus coding in the mammalian auditory nervous system. The results of these studies pertain to the latency, frequency selectivity, and time pattern of responses to short tone bursts. Other research compare the cochlear nerve, behavioral, and psychophysical frequency selectivity which show that frequency selectivity of the auditory system occurs at the level of the cochlear nerve, becoming downgraded in end-organ deafness. Other papers discuss neural coding at higher levels such as the feature extraction in the auditory system of bats. Some papers also analyze the specialized hearing mechanisms in animals, for example, the echolocation of bats and in some insects, the function of the swimbladder in fish hearing, as well as the "invertebrate frequency analyzer" in the locust ear. Physiologists, neurophysiologists, neurobiologists, general medical practioners, and EENT specialists will find this collection valuable.

ContributorsPreface Introduction: v. BékésyI. Cochlear Mechanics Cochlear Nonlinearities An Investigation of Post-Mortem Cochlear Mechanics Using the Mossbauer Effect A Possibility for Sub-Tectorial Membrane Fluid Motion Observations of the Mechanical Disturbances along the Basilar Membrane with Laser Illumination Concluding RemarksII. Cochlear Morphology The Normal Organ of Corti The Innervation of the Cochlear Receptor Problems and Pitfalls in Studies of Cochlear Hair Cell PathologyIII. Cochlear Physiology The Cocktail Hour before the Serious Banquet The Physiology of Individual Hair Cells and Their Synapses The Ionic Receptive Mechanism in the Acoustico-Lateralis System Cochlear Potentials and Cochlear Mechanics Neuropharmacology and Potentials of the Inner Ear Inner Ear Potentials in Lower Vertebrates: Dependence on MetabolismIV. Neural Coding at Lower Levels Stimulus Coding at Caudal Levels of the Cat's Auditory Nervous System: I. Response Characteristics of Single Units Stimulus Coding at Caudal Levels of the Cat's Auditory Nervous System: II. Patterns of Synaptic Organization Studies of Phase-Locked Cochlear Output in Cells of the Anteroventral Nucleus in the Cochlear Complex of the Cat The Frequency Selectivity of the Cochlea Considerations of Nonlinear Response Properties of Single Cochlear Nerve Fibers Coding of Amplitude Modulated Sounds in the Cochlear Nucleus of the RatV. Neural Coding at Higher Levels Time Dependent Features of Adequate Sound Stimuli and the Functional Organization of Central Auditory Neurons Feature Extraction in the Auditory System of Bats Patterns of Activity of Single Neurons of the Auditory Cortex in Monkey Efferent Crossed Inhibition in the Ventral Cochlear NucleiVI. Psychoacoustics In Search of Physiological Correlates of Psychoacoustic Characteristics Temporal Effects in Psychoacoustical Excitation Minimum Integration TimeVII. Specialized Hearing in Animals Echolocation Function of the Swimbladder in Fish Hearing The Mechanics of the Locust Ear: An Invertebrate Frequency AnalyzerSubject Index