Phenomenological characterization of eardrum transduction.

A phenomenological description of the transduction effected by the eardrum is presented. That description is provided by a transfer matrix, whose elements define those measurements sufficient to characterize eardrum transduction. Causality provides constraints on the matrix elements. In addition, measurements of the matrix elements can determine whether they satisfy constraints imposed by minimum-phase behavior and the principle of reciprocity. Those constraints may be used either to reduce the number of measurements necessary to characterize the eardrum or to check the consistency of measurements that overdetermine the system. Within its region of validity, the transfer matrix of the eardrum provides a common ground for the comparison between theory and experiment. As an example, a simple model for the transduction characteristics of the eardrum, defined completely in terms of measurable quantities, is presented.