[Transduction and motor disorders of cochlear hair cells in Menière and aminoglycoside hearing loss].

The auditory reception by cochlear hair cells is a mechano-electrical process of transducing based on ionic channels in the outer cell membrane. In addition, outer hair cells seem to control actively the non-linear micromechanics of the inner ear on the basis of fast and slow motor properties. These active motor properties of outer hair cells are obviously disturbed in acute attacks of Ménière's disease or in aminoglycoside intoxication. Their dysfunction may thus partly explain the resulting deafness.