Abstract
Background. We study the elastic properties of the outer hair cell. The outer hair cell is a receptor cell located in the inner ear and recently considered as the major active component in the hearing process. The lateral wall of this cell is able to transmit the changes of the membrane potential into the changes of the length of the cell (Brownell et al., 1985). The outer hair cell is an elongated cylinder filled with a fluid and embedded into a surrounding structure of deformable elements. Through the electromechanical transduction, outer hair cells exert forces on the basilar membrane, the major vibrating element in the cochlea, and are believed to affect the tuning properties of the ear. Therefore, the elastic properties of the outer hair cell are crucial for the analysis of the role of the active element and for understanding the hearing process in general.
