This proposal requests support to bring together experts in the hearing field who have published experimental and/or theoretical papers and are actively doing research relevant to cochlear mechanisms for the purpose of presenting and discussing their most recent work at length. The key feature of this meeting is to promote a very strong interaction between theoretical and experimental scientists doing research related to cochlear mechanisms. The number of papers will be limited to approximately 50 so that the conference will remain focused. This number will allow ample representation of different opinions while still being conducive to free discussion. The proceedings of the meeting will be published immediately by requiring authors to have their manuscripts in camera-ready form at the time of the meeting. The long term goal of the meeting is to advance the understanding of the peripheral mechanisms of hearing. It is assumed that this knowledge will eventually be exploited in addressing various human hearing problems.
