Wit H P, Ritsma R J
Neurosci Lett. 1983 Oct 10;40(3):275-80. doi: 10.1016/0304-3940(83)90051-4.
If a human ear is stimulated with short sound pulses an acoustic response can be recorded many milliseconds later in the ear canal. This 'cochlear echo' was discovered by Kemp some years ago. Soon after this discovery it was found that many normal ears also emit weak sounds without being stimulated. Here we present the results of the measurements of minimum stimulus energy needed to influence this acoustic emission process. This energy is so low (1 eV) that processes at the molecular level are likely to play an important role. This may have consequences for theories of normal cochlear functioning.
如果用人耳短声脉冲进行刺激，在耳道中可以记录到许多毫秒之后的声响应。这种“耳蜗回声”是几年前由肯普发现的。在这一发现之后不久，人们发现许多正常耳朵在未受刺激时也会发出微弱的声音。在此，我们展示了影响这种声发射过程所需的最小刺激能量的测量结果。这种能量非常低（1电子伏特），以至于分子水平的过程可能起着重要作用。这可能会对正常耳蜗功能的理论产生影响。
