History of physiological acoustics: A modeling perspective

Since the days of Helmholtz and Ohm in the nineteenth century, physiological acoustics has focused on models of mechanisms underlying human auditory perception. We review the history of three modeling streams: (1) models of cochlear mechanisms, (2) models that predict human psychoacoustic performance on the basis of neural representations of sound, and (3) models for processing of acoustic information by the central nervous system. We trace the evolution from early macromechanical models that were adequate to explain the broad tuning of the basilar membrane as reported by von Bekesy to recent micromechanical models needed to account for sharp basilar‐membrane tuning as revealed by more sensitive experimental techniques. We review models of the molecular mechanisms underlying hair cell electromotility and its relation to sharp tuning. Because of the ‘‘dynamic range problem’’ early models of frequency and intensity discrimination based on auditory‐nerve discharge rates gave way to models based on temporal p...