What is Corti's body?

Many people are interested in Corti's body and its functions. Everyone should have at least a brief idea of it. Corti's organ is called the peripheral part of the hearing aid. It is in a webbed labyrinth. In the course of evolution, on the basis of the lateral line organs (namely their structures), this part of the auditory analyzer developed .

It captures the vibrations of waves in the labyrinth of the inner ear, and then sends them to the auditory cortex of the cerebral hemispheres, resulting in the perception of sounds. Corti's body performs an important function. It is in it that the initial analysis of all possible sound signals is carried out . This body was first discovered by Alfonso Corti, an Italian histologist.

Where is the organ of corti?

It is located in the cochlear path, in which there is a perilymph, as well as the endolymph, and is a bone labyrinth, similar to a spiral. The upper part of the path is adjacent to the so-called vestibular staircase. It is called the Rantern membrane. And the lower part, located near the tympanic staircase, consists of the main membrane, which is in contact with the bone spiral plate.

Purpose and structure

Corti's organ is located on the main membrane, it is formed by the outer, as well as by internal hair and supporting cells. As an example, you can cite the pillars. Also included here are the cells of Gensen, Claudius and Deiters. Of these, the organ of corti is composed. Between them is a tunnel, along which the axons pass, located in a nervous spiral node. They rush to react to the audio signals of the hair cells. The latter, in turn, lie in the recesses created by the bodies of the supporting cells. On their surface, turned to the cover membrane, there are from 30 to 60 non-long hairs. Supporting cells also carry a trophic function. How exactly? They send nutrients to the hair cells. The role of the organ of Corti is the transformation of the energy of sound vibrations into nervous excitement. For this, strictly speaking, it is needed. Here is what the corti's organ performs. Histology allows you to get acquainted with its structure.

Physiology

The eardrum captures sound vibrations, which, through the ossicles located in the middle ear, enter the liquid media - the endolymph, and also the perilymph. Their movements contribute to the fact that the membrane of the Corti's organ is slightly removed from the hair cells. What happens as a result? First, the hairs are bent. Then there are biopotentials, which are perceived by the spiral ganglion (or more precisely, the outgrowths of its neurons). They approach the bottom of all hair cells. The structure of the Corti's organ is of great interest to many researchers.

Another theory

There is also a different opinion on this matter. According to him, the hairs of cells that capture sound signals are just sensitive antennas that are depolarized as a result of the impact of incoming waves. Endolymphatic acetylcholine plays a significant role here. Depolarization triggers a sequence of chemical transformations in hair cells, namely in their cytoplasm. Then a nervous impulse appears in the nerve endings that come into contact with them. Sound vibrations have different heights. For each of them a separate part of the Corti's organ is intended. High frequencies provoke vibration in sections of the cochlea located closer to the base, and low ones at the top. This is due to hydrodynamic phenomena in the cochlea. Corti's organ, whose functions are now known to you, plays an important role throughout this process.

It turns out that the cochlea can be considered a mechanical determinant of the amplitude-frequency characteristic: by its action it resembles it. But on the microphone it is not very similar.

Why is this process so important?

Thanks to the above features, the brain can immediately respond to certain sound signals, rather than implement the Fourier transform, resorting to the help of mathematics (by the way, for this it lacks computational capabilities) in order to sort the captured information by sources. It would be too difficult. It is easier to understand what a Corti's body is than to imagine such a process.

How to get the necessary information?

To learn more about the angular direction of the source of the signal, you need to pay attention to the polarization of the sound harmonics. This is an important condition. It turns out that the ear allows you to acquire information about the polarization. You can also learn about the amplitude of all harmonics of audio signals. In the case of low frequencies, the brain and ear, among other things, receive information relating to the phase of the harmonics, and therefore, it is possible to trace the direction of vibration. What do I need to do? Just calculate the phase difference of the sound from the left, as well as the right ear. Easy enough, is not it? Although, of course, it is easier to understand what the organ of Corti is.

The peculiarity of additional compression of audio information allows to significantly reduce the time for analyzing the information that was received. The snail is twisted, and thanks to this, it becomes possible to shoot the spectrum while simultaneously combining the octaves.

Now you know what the organ of Corti is and what structure it has. Also you are aware of the functions that it performs. All this is very important and useful to know.