A research group has revealed that the checkerboard-like arrangement of cells in the inner ear's organ of Corti is vital for hearing. The discovery gives a new insight into how hearing works from the ...

The hearing organ in mammals is a spiraling structure called the "cochlea" from the Greek word for snail. It spirals out from the saccule (one of the balance organs). There are two and a half turns in ...

The exquisite performance of the mammalian hearing organ results from a finely orchestrated array of cell types, and their highly specialized functions are determined by their gene expression profile.

image: Left: The organ of Corti from a normal (control) mouse. The hair cells and their support cells are lined up in an alternating, checkerboard-like pattern. Right: The organ of Corti from a nectin ...