MBExC Lecture

Dr. Marcel van der Heijden (M.L.), from the Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam will give a talk on “Inner ear mechanics: new techniques, new answers, new questions” during the MBExC Lecture on 14 December, 2023 at 1 pm at the lecture hall, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Hermann-Rein-Str. 3.

Abstract
Recent innovations in measurement techniques have greatly facilitated the recording of sub-nanometer vibrations in living ears. Previous techniques only reached the most superficial structures (in the mammalian cochlea mostly the basilar membrane) and required the placement of small reflectors. These restrictions no longer apply. It is now possible to obtain 2D vibration maps of cross sections of the sensory organ, and to combine them into volumetric datasets. The new data have yielded many surprises: salient effects not anticipated by prevailing theory and even contradicting it. This has thrown the field of cochlear mechanics into a state of healthy scientific confusion. At the same time, some of the new findings have revealed unexpected bridges between previously unconnected phenomena. I will present an overview of the new insights and their implications for our attempts to understand the mechanics of hearing.

Hosts: Prof. Dr. Tobias Moser & Dr. Anna Vavakou, University Medical Center Göttingen

Please find the poster of the announcement here: