Measurements of the transient response of the basilar membrane were conducted using the Mössbauer effect on 33 squirrel monkeys using an experimental preparation identical to that of Rhode (1971). The stimuli were acoustic clicks 150 μsec in duration repeated 100 000–400 000 times. The amplitude of the click was varied and the responses of the malleus and of the basilar membrane at a point in the basal turn were measured. The basilar membrane’s click response is oscillatory, with a period near that of the characteristic frequency. The first few response peaks behave almost linearly with stimulus intensity, while the later peaks exhibit a pronounced nonlinearity. This behavior is shown to be consistent with the nonlinearity reported using steady‐state measurement methods (Rhode, 1971). The transient response observed in some of the preparations was very lightly damped; however, a wide range in the damping of the responses was found in the different animals. A progressive increase in the rate of decay of the transient response with the duration of the experiment was observed. Any damage to the cochlea also resulted in increased damping. The measured cochlear delay time of 300–390 μsec agrees with that derived from phase curves of the transfer ratio measured with steady‐state methods.
Subject Classification: [43]65.26, [43]65.20.