From cochlear kinematics to cochlear mechanics: matching model to experiments

We compare motion patterns of the hearing organ in the apical turn of the guinea pig cochlea, as monitoredby confocal imaging, with motion predicted by a cochlear model including finite element details. Weadjust the model to the angle of view of the images and to the anatomical variability of the organ, by use of aleast-squares method assuming a priori knowledge of the organ's geometry. This approach allows us to fitalso the model's mechanical parameters, based on the motion of the cochlear partition measured under quasistaticchanges of pressure or during sound stimulation. A number of stiffness parameters of the hearingorgan can thus be inferred without placing a physical probe inside the cochlea. This will be useful in buildingcochlear models and in confronting these models with experiments.