Dr. Konstantina Stankovic

And he was playing sounds of different frequencies and noticed that those of high frequencies stimulated the basal portion of the cochlea and those of low frequencies stimulated the high end.

So because of his seminal contributions to understanding how the auditory system and description of this place frequency map, plus other things that he did, such as discovering that there is a biological battery in the inner ear,

uh where you have hundred millivolts of positive potential which is really unheard of everywhere else in the body cells are bathed in fluid and the potential of that fluid outside of them is typically around zero yeah we should explain first sorry to interrupt but just very briefly and we're talking about membrane potential some people will know what that is we're essentially talking about

Extracellular.

Extracellular.

So normally cells have some resting potential, which is usually negative.

60, 80.

Exactly.

But now on top of it, you have 100 millivolts of extracellular potential.

So there's a difference that really drives ionic current through these sensory cells is really large.

And that contributes to this exquisite sensitivity of the inner ear.

He discovered the endocochlear potential.

He was the first to measure it.

So for these contributions, he actually won a Nobel Prize.

So by studying frequency, because you started talking about frequency and how there may be a whole...

Hearing-to-body frequency map, I think it's a fascinating phenomenon because at least the auditory system is all functioning based on frequency.

And in fact, understanding that place frequency map has been essential for the introduction and success of cochlear implants because cochlear implants

rely on that cochlear implants, pick up sound from the environment via microphone, and then process it into different frequency bands.

And then that is delivered to the intracochlear electrode that directly electrically stimulates the auditory nerve.

So if you're hearing high frequencies, then it's only the electrodes that are