Tonotopy

Tonotopy is the orderly mapping of sound frequency onto position in auditory sensory and neural structures. It begins in the cochlea and is preserved through multiple stages of auditory processing.

Basilar membrane: A flexible structure in the cochlea whose position-dependent vibrations help separate sound frequencies. Its changing stiffness and width create the cochlear frequency map.
Frequency: The number of repeating cycles of a periodic event per unit of time. Tonotopy orders auditory locations by the frequencies of sound they respond to.
Audiogram: A chart of hearing thresholds measured across sound frequencies. Its frequency-by-frequency measurements assess function associated with different cochlear regions.
Somatotopy: The orderly mapping of body locations onto neural structures. It is another sensory map organized by stimulus location rather than sound frequency.
Traveling wave: A wave of motion that travels along the cochlear partition after sound enters the inner ear. Its peak shifts with frequency, locating each tone along the basilar membrane.
Pitch (auditory): The perceptual quality that lets sounds be ordered from low to high. Tonotopic position contributes to the brain's representation of perceived pitch.
Cochlear implant: An electronic device that stimulates the auditory nerve to provide a sense of sound. Electrodes are arranged to approximate the cochlea's low-to-high frequency organization.
Retinotopy: The preservation of neighboring visual-field locations in neural maps. It parallels tonotopy as a spatially ordered representation in a sensory pathway.
Hair cell: A sensory cell that converts mechanical stimulation into electrical signals in the inner ear. Hair cells at different cochlear positions signal the local frequency response.
Auditory system: The sensory structures and neural pathways that detect and process sound. Tonotopy is an organizing principle across several parts of this system.

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