The resonance principle in perspective

This chapter provides an overview of how a powerful acoustical principle – sympathetic resonance – has been applied to our organ of hearing. It focuses on the principle’s virtues, drawbacks, and varying fortunes. Why did Helmholtz’s resonance theory of hearing in the 1850s fall from universal acceptance to near total disregard? What were the factors favouring traveling wave theories, most notably that of von Békésy in the mid 20th century? Post-Békésy, however, thinking on cochlear mechanics has been radically changed by findings that the cochlea is an active