ORIGINAL ARTICLE
CLUSTERS IN A CHAIN OF COUPLED OSCILLATORS BEHAVE LIKE A SINGLE OSCILLATOR: RELEVANCE TO SPONTANEOUS OTOACOUSTIC EMISSIONS FROM HUMAN EARS
Hero P. Wit 1, A,C-F
,
 
Andrew Bell 2, E-F
 
 
 
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1
Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
 
2
John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
 
 
A - Research concept and design; B - Collection and/or assembly of data; C - Data analysis and interpretation; D - Writing the article; E - Critical revision of the article; F - Final approval of article;
 
 
Publication date: 2017-03-31
 
 
Corresponding author
Hero P. Wit   

Hero P. Wit, Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, P.O. Box 30.001, 9700RB Groningen, The Netherlands, e-mail: hero.wit@ziggo.nl
 
 
J Hear Sci 2017;7(1):19-26
 
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAEs) provide startling evidence that there is an active process at the core of the mammalian cochlea, but the mechanism involved is unclear. Models involving single, active Van der Pol oscillators have found favor, but here we extend the system to a chain of coupled, active nonlinear oscillators. It is found that the inherent clustering of oscillators in the chain produces an effect in which each cluster, or frequency plateau, behaves just like a single oscillator, most clearly in terms of phase lock to external tones and phase slip in the presence of noise.
 
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