Cochlea the oval window) to the "apex" (the top or center of the spiral). The spiral canal of the cochlea is a section of the bony labyrinth of the inner ear that is approximately 30 mm long and makes 2¾ turns about the modiolus. The cochlear structures include: The cochlea is a portion of the inner ear that looks like a snail shell (cochlea is Greek for snail.) The cochlea receives sound in the form of vibrations, which cause the stereocilia to move. The stereocilia then convert these vibrations into nerve impulses which are taken up to the brain to be
Evolution of the cochlea motor function in land vertebrates, but this developed vastly differently in different lineages. In certain birds and mammals, prestins function as both transporters and motors, but the strongest evolution to robust motor dynamics only evolved in therian mammals. It is hypothesized that this motor system is significant to the therian cochlea at high frequencies because of the distinctive cellular and bony composition of the organ of Corti that allows the prestins to intensify movements of the whole structure. Modern ultra-sound echolocating species such as bats and toothed whales show highly evolved prestins, and these prestins show identical sequence alterations over