[Complex frequency-selective properties of the fibers of the acoustic nerve in the pigeon].

Frequency-selectivity properties of 198 single auditory fibres in the pigeon were investigated by means of an automatic method. Spontaneous activity in 56 of them innervating hair cells with oscillatory membrane potential changes could be inhibited by single-frequency stimuli (one-tone inhibition). Inhibition areas lay above (45%), below (7%) or on both sides (48%) of their characteristic frequencies (CFs). Input-output functions at inhibitory frequencies were nonmonotonic, while they were always monotonic at best frequencies near CF. One-tone inhibition was not observed in the remaining 142 fibres. Analysis of mechanoelectric processes in hair cells during one-tone inhibition indicates their possible analogy with the well known two-tone effects.