• Background
  • Instructions
  • Illustration
  • Quiz

Background

When a vibration of the basilar membrane causes the basilar membrane to move upward, the stereocilia brush spread apart. When stereocilia are pushed in this manner, there is a change in the cell’s voltage potential. This voltage change causes the release of neurotransmitters, which cause the auditory nerve to send a signal. And with the induction of a signal in the auditory nerve, the sound has been transduced and sound information gets conveyed to the brain.

In this activity, you can observe the motion of a single hair cell and see how the motion leads to transduction, or the conversion of the sound stimulus into action potentials in the brain.