Proposal for high sensitivity force sensor inspired by auditory hair cells

We propose a biomimetic electromechanical system mimicking auditory hair cell and investigate its mechanical properties. The biophysical properties of the biological hair cells, mechanical instability, and sensory adaptation are modeled using feedback control. The proposed system shows two different types of response according to their spontaneous oscillations; sinusoidal-like and bistable oscillation. We demonstrate by numerical simulation that, as in auditory hair cells, the sensitivity is larger and frequency filtering is sharper for weaker force signal, which might be applicable for high sensitivity wide-ranged force (sound) sensor. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3167818]