Figure 1.

Spontaneous oscillations of hair bundles. Experiment: Time-dependent displacement measured in two different hair bundles. (Top traces) Example of a single-mode oscillation with a single dominant period. (Bottom traces) Multimode oscillation, with oscillatory behavior interspersed with quiescent intervals. (A) Numerical simulation of spontaneous oscillations, with the gating spring stiffness set to be constant. (B and C) Examples of two numerical simulations, which display quiescent intervals interspersed with oscillatory behavior as observed in experimental data. Numerical simulation shown in panel A used the same set of parameters as in panel B, with constant gating stiffness equal to the time-averaged value from panel B.