Research overview: feline cochlear structure and frequency encoding

The cochlea is the inner-ear structure that converts sound into neural signals, and its mechanics set the frequency range an animal can hear. This overview surveys what is known about the feline cochlea, which has long been an important model in auditory neuroscience. Its tonotopic organization, in which different positions respond to different frequencies, supports the cat's broad audible range including ultrasonic sensitivity. The survey reviews how cochlear length, stiffness, and hair-cell distribution relate to the high upper frequency limit characteristic of cats. Because the cat cochlea has been extensively studied physiologically, it has contributed foundational data on how mammalian ears encode pitch and intensity. Understanding cochlear structure links the cat's behavioral audiogram to the underlying biophysics, explaining how the inner ear is built to capture the wide and high-reaching range of sounds that a small-mammal predator must detect.