Georg von Békésy

Georg von Békésy was a Hungarian-American biophysicist whose studies of the inner ear’s cochlea earned him the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: An annual international award recognizing discoveries in physiology or medicine. Békésy received the 1961 prize for discoveries about the cochlea’s physical mechanisms.
Cochlea: The spiral-shaped inner-ear structure that converts sound vibrations into neural signals. Békésy mapped how vibrations travel through this structure.
Audiology: The science and clinical practice of hearing and balance assessment and rehabilitation. Békésy’s work helped establish a physical basis for understanding hearing and its impairments.
Active cochlear mechanics: The energy-dependent amplification and sharpening of cochlear vibration produced by living sensory cells. Békésy’s preparations emphasized passive mechanics, while living cochleae amplify and sharpen responses.
Harvard University: A private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, founded in 1636. Békésy joined Harvard in 1947 and continued his hearing research there.
Traveling wave: A disturbance that propagates through a medium while carrying energy. Békésy showed that sound produces a traveling wave along the cochlear partition.
Bekesy audiometry: An audiometric procedure in which a listener controls a tone’s audibility threshold as its frequency changes. The method applies his name to a clinical test of auditory sensitivity.
Cochlear amplifier: A process by which outer hair cells enhance faint vibrations and tune cochlear responses. It accounts for sensitivity and selectivity not fully explained by Békésy’s passive preparations.
University of Hawaii: A public university system based in Honolulu, Hawaii. Békésy worked at the University of Hawaii after leaving Harvard.
Basilar membrane: A flexible tissue strip within the cochlea that supports the organ of Corti. Its changing stiffness and width help determine where cochlear waves peak.

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Otoacoustic emissionsRelated: His passive model of cochlear mechanics preceded evidence for active amplification.