Once upon a time on usenet Mike Fleming wrote:
In article , "~misfit~"
writes:

[*] "The membrane is tuned to resonate at different frequencies..."
(About basilar membrane). If you say something 'is tuned' then you
imply a tuner at work. Maybe he's religious and is implying a god
tuned it but that's at odds with what is mostly a scientific
'paper'. Simply saying 'The membrane resonates at different
frequencies....' saves words and is far more accurate
scientifically. That ths is but one example of the things that
jarred with me. (I have a background in hard science and as such
have difficulty with quasi-scientific articles.)

It's poorly expressed. Sounds create standing waves in the basilar
membrane, the location of the standing wave corresponding to the
frequency. The hair cells at the location of the standing wave are
stimulated by the basilar membrane. (Those of us with tinnitus have
hair cells at specific locations continuously transmitting, which
slightly messes things up.)

Yep that sounds a lot better. My condolences on the tinnitus.

I used to do soundmixing / stagelighting for live gigs a few deacades ago
and the band I worked with didn't have very long cables so I was never far
from a PA speaker stack. I'd get temporary tinnitus that would last for
days. I'd hate to have it permanently.
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy
little classification in the DSM*."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)
(*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)