Summary
The sense of hearing shows a truly remarkable ability to detect weak sounds amidst loud and competing environmental noise. This detection is enabled by hair cells, specialized cells that are responsive to mechanical movement below that of a nanometer. Prior work has shown that these cells are active – they expend energy to enhance their response. Secondly, they are not linear – they amplify weak signals and compress strong ones. Other studies have uncovered various cellular processes that contribute to the hair cell’s ability to sense a very weak signal. However, what is not known is how these
