On the cover: In the mammalian cochlea, inner hair cells detect sound stimuli and transmit responses to auditory nerve fibers, whereas outer hair cells provide initial amplification of the stimulus by voltage-dependent contractions of their cell soma. In this issue
On the cover: In the mammalian cochlea, inner hair cells detect sound stimuli and transmit responses to auditory nerve fibers, whereas outer hair cells provide initial amplification of the stimulus by voltage-dependent contractions of their cell soma. In this issue, Johnson et al. (pp. 1143–1154) report that the time constant of outer but not inner hair cells varies with cochlear location and that, due to a large proportion of open mechanotransducer channels at rest, it is sufficiently small so as not to attenuate receptor potentials at frequencies up to 10 kHz or more. These results suggest that cochlear amplification arising from somatic electromotility may not be hindered at high frequencies. The cover image is a scanning electron micrograph of the guinea pig cochlea provided by David Furness of Keele University, UK, showing the mechanosensitive stereociliary bundles of one row of inner hair cells (top) and three rows of outer hair cells.