Cochlear Transduction And Transmission

This special issue represents the second of three issues containing papers arising from the 'Auditory Function and Dysfunction: Molecular and Physiological Mechanisms' symposium held in Auckland, New Zealand in August 2001. It includes three main themes. The first, Auditory Central Nervous System Processing and Plasticity (Vol. 6, No. 4, 2001), considers advances made in understanding the cellular and molecular basis of active tuning in the mammalian cochlea, the 'cochlear amplifier'. This, the second, discusses the structural relationships between sensory and supporting cells in the inner ear and their underlying membrane properties, and, in the third section, Gene Therapy and Therapeutic Interventions (Vol. 7, No. 3, 2002, in preparation) papers on the peripheral auditory synaptic transmission and neurohumoral signalling are included. This and the other two issues stemming from the symposium will be valuable contributions to the communication between the wide-ranging disciplines within the hearing sciences and the clinic.