The Responses of Hair Cells to Low Frequency Tones and Their Relationship to the Extracellular Receptor Potentials and Sound Pressure Level in the Guinea Pig Cochlea

This paper is concerned with a description of the receptor potential recorded intraeellularly from inner hair cells in the basal turn of the guinea pig cochlea. It includes a discussion of the special properties which permit the responses of hair cells to high frequency auditory stimulation to be transmitted to auditory nerve fibres. Finally, the intracellularly recorded receptor potentials from inner hair cells are compared with the extracellularly recorded cochlear microphonic from the scala tympani and sound pressure, measured at the tympanic membrane, in response to low frequency tones. These measurements form a basis for comparing the way in which the stereocilia of inner and outer hair cells are mechanically coupled to the overlying tectorial membrane.