Event:

A series of lectures on endolymph hydrodynamics and the ensuing rotary perception

In these five double-hour = ten single-hour lectures (hour means academic hour), several aspects of the relationship between semicircular duct (scd) construction and endolymph hydrodynamics are addressed. The first three lectures deal with the development of a 3-dimensional model of a system consisting of three mutually connected scd’s. Starting from the geometrical description of such a scd system rotating in space, the equations of continuity and hydrodynamic motion that describe the endolymph flow are derived. Several ways to solve these equations and to obtain equations for endolymph displacements are described.
In the next three lectures, simplifying procedures lead to analytical expressions for endolymph motion. This approach provides ample insight in the flow-distribution in the ducts, in optimal shapes of the scd’s, in their position in the head during natural rotations, in the cooperation between left- and right labyrinths, and in the positions of the scd’s in normal posture.
The remaining four lectures discuss limitations of the size of the scd’s, i.e., their smallest and largest possible constructions, their functioning as a rotation-transducer, the morphology and functioning of the mechano-electrical transducer in the ampulla, optimisation of their sensitivity by flow-amplification, and their allometry and evolution.