Accelerometers in Your Brain

Did you know that your head contains accelerometers that report the direction of gravity and head motions to the brain? Scientists have found that subtle head motions are amplified by inner-ear hair cells before the signal is reported to the brain. In both the auditory and the vestibular systems, hair cell response is nonlinear. Meaning that the lower the strength of the stimulus, the more the hair cell amplifies the signal.