Are Outer Hair Cells Pressure Sensors? Basis of a SAW Model of the Cochlear Amplifier

Because outer hair cells bear stereocilia it is natural to assume that, like inner hair cells, the unique stimulus to which they react is stereociliar deflection. But is this long-standing assumption necessarily true? This work considers a number of recurring anomalies which have appeared in the literature over the years and concludes that their common underlying feature is an OHC response to pressure. At low SPLs, intracochlear fluid pressure could provide an additional, and perhaps dominant, stimulus for driving the cochlear amplifier.