Re: Why is the cochlea in our ears shaped like a spiral?

Low frequency detection needs space.
Like large musical instruments generally produce larger wavelengths.
Large creatures make deeper sounds.
Large antennas make long radio waves.
But in the head, space is premium commodity.
So it is natural that an amplification mechanism favoring larger wavelenths
is used.
Long wave radio receivers use coils with graphite cores to amplify signals.
I wonder if that is the same principle.
Some sea shells are used as flutes, since it acts as a resonance chamber.
They make some brass instruments coil to make them small enough to play.
Basically when you need a long instrument to fit a small chamber, you coil
it, like DNA too.


"Sam Wormley" <swormley1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:yplRf.820688$x96.109621@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Inner-ear mystery solved
http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/10/3/8/1

13 March 2006

Why is the cochlea in our ears shaped like a spiral? According to new
work by scientists in the US, the spiral shape makes us more sensitive
to low frequency sounds. Daphne Manoussaki of Vanderbilt University in
Nashville, Tennessee, together with Emilios Dimitriadis and Richard
Chadwick at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland,
have calculated that the spiral shape can affect the wave mechanics
that take place inside the cochlea. It increases the strength of
vibrations produced by sound waves, especially at low pitch (Phys. Rev.
Lett. 96 088701).

The cochlea is a small seashell-shaped organ in the inner part of the
ear where sound vibrations are converted into nerve impulses. These are
then sent to the brain as electrical signals. The human cochlea
occupies a volume of about 1 cubic centimetre and operates at
frequencies between 20 hertz and 20 kilohertz. It can detect sounds
over a range of 120 decibels.

See: http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/10/3/8/1


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