A 2-Dimensional active cochlear model for analog VLSI implementation

In this paper an active cochlear model for analogue VLSI implementation is proposed. The model incorporates the effect of the outer hair cells in the living cochlea, which control the quality factor of the basilar membrane filters. The outer hair cells are incorporated as an extra voltage source in series with the basilar membrane resonator. Its value saturates as the input signal becomes larger, making the behaviour rather closer to that of a passive model. The simulation results show this nonlinear phenomenon, which is also seen in the living cochlea.