Finite element cochlea box model-Mechanical and electrical analysis of the cochlea

Abstract

© 2015 AIP Publishing LLC. The primary role of the cochlea is to transform external sound stimuli into mechanical vibrations and then to neural impulses which are sent to the brain. A simplified cochlea box model was developed using the finite element method. Firstly, a mechanical model of the cochlea was analyzed. The box model consists of the basilar membrane and two fluid chambers-the scala vestibuli and scala tympani. The third chamber, the scala media, was neglected in the mechanical analysis. The best agreement with currently available analytical and experimental results was obtained when behavior of the fluid in the chambers was described using the wave acoustic equation and behavior of the basilar membrane was modeled with Newtonian dynamics. The obtained results show good frequency mapping. The second approach was to use an active model of the cochlea in which the Organ of Corti was included. The operation of the Organ of Corti involves the generation of current, caused by mechanical vibration. This current in turn causes a force applied to the basilar membrane, creating in this way an active feedback mechanism. A state space representation of the electro-mechanical model from existing literature was implemented and a first comparison with the finite element method is presented.