Travelling wave in the cochlea (Békésy)
Onda viajera en la cóclea (Békésy)
- Date
- 1928-1960 · confidence high
- Place
- Budapest, Hungary
- Credited to
- Georg von Békésy
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Using models and observations on cadaver cochleae, the Hungarian biophysicist showed that sound produces a wave travelling along the basilar membrane that peaks at a point depending on frequency. This is the mechanical basis of hearing.
Békésy worked at the Post Office telecommunications laboratory in Budapest from 1923 to 1946; the definitive observations with stroboscopy and silver particles date from the 1940s (Stockholm and Harvard). The 1928 date corresponds to the initial theoretical model.
What it led to
- the place theory of hearing
- design of cochlear implants
- the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine