Abstract
We explore mode locking of spontaneous oscillations of saccular hair cell bundles to periodic mechanical deflections. A simple dynamic systems framework is presented that captures the main features of the experimentally observed behavior in the form of an Arnold tongue. We propose that the phase-locking transition can proceed via different bifurcations. At low stimulus amplitudes , the transition to mode locking as a function of the stimulus frequency has the character of a saddle-node bifurcation on an invariant circle. At higher stimulus amplitudes, the mode-locking transition has the character of a supercritical Andronov-Hopf bifurcation.
- Received 10 February 2012
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.86.021915
©2012 American Physical Society