Governing equations of motion for the otolith organs and their response to a step change in velocity of the skull

The otolith organs are the linear motion sensors of the inner ear. They comprise an overdamped second-order system and respond to gravity and skull acceleration. The governing equations of motion which describe the relative displacement of the mass with respect to the skull are developed. When these...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of biomechanical engineering Vol. 106; no. 4; p. 302
Main Authors:	Grant, J W, Best, W A, LoNigro, R
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States 01-11-1984
Subjects:	Acceleration Biomechanical Phenomena Elasticity Humans Models, Biological Movement Otolithic Membrane - physiology Saccule and Utricle - physiology Skull - physiology
Online Access:	Get more information
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Summary:	The otolith organs are the linear motion sensors of the inner ear. They comprise an overdamped second-order system and respond to gravity and skull acceleration. The governing equations of motion which describe the relative displacement of the mass with respect to the skull are developed. When these equations are non-dimensionalized they indicate that the elastic term is almost negligible with respect to the viscous and inertial terms. For a step change in skull velocity an analytic solution is given for the elastic term equal to zero and numeric solutions are given for small values of the elastic term.
ISSN:	0148-0731
DOI:	10.1115/1.3138498