Stochastic resonance in the mechanoelectrical transduction of hair cells.

In transducing mechanical stimuli into electrical signals, at least some hair cells in vertebrate auditory and vestibular systems respond optimally to weak periodic signals at natural, nonzero noise intensities. We understand this stochastic resonance by constructing a faithful mechanical model reflecting the hair cell geometry and described by a nonlinear stochastic differential equation. This Langevin description elucidates the mechanism of hair cell stochastic resonance while supporting the hypothesis that noise plays a functional role in hearing.