A novel cochlea partition model based on asynchronous bifurcation processor

Abstract

The cochlea is a highly nonlinear biological sound processor the major components of which are lymph (viscous fluid), a basilar membrane (vibrating membrane in the viscous fluid), outer hair cells (active dumpers for the basilar membrane), inner hair cells (neural transducers), and spiral ganglion cells (parallel spikes density modulators). In this paper, a novel cochlea partition model based on a concept of an asynchronous bifurcation processor is presented. It is shown that the presented model can reproduce typical nonlinear responses of partitions of biological cochleae such as nonlinear DC response, nonlinear band-pass filtering, and adaptation. Also, FPGA experiments validate reproductions of these nonlinear responses.