About

Dolores Bozovic received her PhD in Physics from Harvard University, where she studied electron transport in carbon nanotubes. She completed postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University in the Sensory Neuroscience laboratory. Since 2005, she has been at the University of California Los Angeles, where she is currently a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the California NanoSystems Institute. The Bozovic laboratory focuses on research at the interface between physics and auditory neuroscience. Her work specializes in the nonlinear dynamics of hair cells, investigating the role of chaotic dynamics and inter-cell synchronization in achieving the nanoscale mechanical sensitivity of the auditory system. The lab combines experimental and theoretical approaches to explore the biophysics of hair cells and their interaction with the neural systems that innervate them. The overall goal of her research is to explain how auditory information is extracted from the environment and how signals from the brain control the dynamics of sensory detection.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Neuroscience
• Mechanics
• Biology
• Psychology
• Physics
• Chemistry
• Acoustics
• Biophysics

Selected publications

• Localization and frequency resolution in antennal hearing of insects

  Physical Review Research · 2026-01-20

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Insects rely on their hearing in order to communicate, identify and locate potential mates, and avoid predators. Due to their small sizes, many insect species are not able to use the interaural time and intensity differences employed by vertebrates for the localization of sound, but have instead evolved other mechanisms to perform this task. One such mechanism is the antenna, which provides directionally sensitive acoustic information. In contrast to tympanic ears, which detect scalar pressure fields, antennal ears detect the vector-valued velocity fields of sound. We argue that this detection scheme at small length scales, combined with the dipolelike radiation of sound emitted from flying insects, results in short ranges of detection. These short ranges imply that the acoustic signals transmitted between two insects flying past each other will be brief and rapidly changing with time, presenting a challenge in extracting precise frequency information. However, this frequency information has been shown to be essential for insects to identify and locate potential mates. In the current work, we propose potential mechanisms that insects may employ in order to extract precise frequency and directional information from these transient signals, thereby circumventing the apparent limitations.

  PublisherDOI

• Estimating free parameters in stochastic oscillatory models using a weighted cost function

  Physical Review Research · 2026-02-20

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  In this study, we estimate parameter values in stochastic oscillatory systems by developing a cost function. Our cost function incorporates power spectral density, analytic signal, and position crossings, each weighted to capture distinct characteristics of the oscillatory system such as amplitude, frequency, and shape. By minimizing this cost function, we estimate parameter values in a stochastic biophysical model for auditory mechanics. Furthermore, we develop a procedure to align the phases of two time series, allowing us to compare stochastic phase evolution of two time series. As a broader application of our procedure, we establish a framework for fitting stochastic oscillatory systems and comparing stochastic time series in other systems.

  PublisherDOI

• Optical imaging of subcellular fluctuations within hair cells

  Biophysical Reports · 2026-01-28

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Although the transduction process has been well studied in hair cells, the possible presence of mechanical perturbations in the hair cell soma has not been explored in nonmammalian species. Hair cell mechanotransduction involves rapid biophysical events that remain difficult to observe in intact tissue. We developed a label-free optical method to image active motility within the soma during both spontaneous and mechanically driven hair bundle motion. Localized light-intensity fluctuations were detected at distinct focal planes, particularly near the periphery and basal pole of the soma. These optical signals exhibited spectral components that matched those of the hair bundle and were substantially reduced when mechanotransduction channel gating was disrupted, indicating that the somatic activity reflects physiological processes linked to mechanotransduction. Activity hotspots consistently aligned with regions of ionic channels and synaptic contacts, and strong stimulation produced phase-locked somatic responses that diminished after tip-link disruption. These findings parallel reports of mechanical correlates of neuronal activity and support the presence of an optical signature of transduction within the soma. Our results demonstrate that wide-field, label-free imaging can resolve intrinsic optical events in semi-intact sensory epithelia, offering a promising approach for noninvasive studies of hair cell and afferent-neuron signaling.

  PublisherDOI

• BPS2025 - Optical imaging of sub-cellular fluctuations within hair cells

  Biophysical Journal · 2025-02-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• On spontaneous oscillations of hair bundles in the amphibian papilla

  Hearing Research · 2025-03-19 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Hair cells play a critical role in the auditory system, acting as key agents in active sound detection. Studying living hair cells ex vivo provides valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying sound detection. In this study, we investigated the nonlinear dynamics of hair bundle oscillations. We developed a robust ex vivo preparation of the amphibian papilla, a bullfrog's auditory organ, and observed spontaneous oscillations of hair bundles. These oscillations were classified into three distinct types: regular, bursting, and spiking. Regular oscillators demonstrated stable oscillations with a well-defined dominant frequency. Bursting oscillators alternated between periods of stable oscillatory activity and quiescence, while spiking oscillators were mostly quiescent, interrupted by brief oscillatory bursts. The oscillation frequencies ranged from 1 to 90 Hz, with approximately 95% of cells oscillating below 40 Hz.

  PublisherDOI

• BPS2025 - Predicting spike trains from pressure waves due to mechanosensitivity in frog saccular hair cells

  Biophysical Journal · 2025-02-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Antennal-Based Strategies for Sound Localization by Insects

  ArXiv.org · 2025-05-06

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Insects rely on their hearing in order to communicate, identify and locate potential mates, and avoid predators. Due to their small sizes, many insect species are not able to utilize the interaural time and intensity differences employed by vertebrates for the localization of sound, but have instead evolved other mechanisms to perform this task. One such mechanism is the antenna, which provides directionally sensitive acoustic information. In the current work, we discuss the physical limitations imposed by the Gabor limit and the nature of acoustic radiation as small length scales. We then propose mechanisms that antennal insects may use in order to localize sound and extract precise frequency information from transient signals, thereby circumventing these physical limitations.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Efferent control of hair cells mechanically coupled by artificial membranes

  Scientific Reports · 2025-12-13

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The efferent system has been proposed to play a vital function in auditory and vestibular systems, by protecting the sensory hair cells from injury and preserving signal detection sensitivity. We report that the activation of efferents has strong modulatory effects on systems of coupled hair cell bundles. In this study, we use direct electrical stimulation of efferent neurons to probe its effects on the hair cells' internal dynamics, by means of optically tracking the hair bundle motility. In vivo, hair bundles of auditory and vestibular epithelia are connected via overlying membranes; to address this physiological characteristic, we investigate the impact of efferent activity on the collective response of coupled hair bundles. We use a preparation from the American bullfrog sacculus which preserves the active motility of hair bundles, and achieve inter-cell coupling by connecting the cells to artificial mica structures. We found that efferent stimulation impacts hair-bundle dynamics, affecting the amplitude, frequency, and temporal profile of spontaneous oscillations, and altering the dynamical state of the system. Furthermore, efferent activation decreased synchronization among coupled hair bundles, suggesting a mechanism by which neural modulation may reduce the overall sensitivity of the system.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Mosquito-Inspired Theoretical Framework for Acoustic Signal Detection

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2025-01-09 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Distortion products are tones produced through nonlinear effects of a system simultaneously detecting two or more frequencies. These combination tones are ubiquitous to vertebrate auditory systems and are generally regarded as byproducts of nonlinear signal amplification. It has previously been shown that several species of infectious-disease-carrying mosquitoes utilize these distortion products for detecting and locating potential mates. It has also been shown that their auditory systems contain multiple oscillatory components within the sensory structure, which respond at different frequency ranges. Using a generic theoretical model for acoustic detection, we show the signal-detection advantages that are implied by these two detection schemes: distortion product detection and cascading a signal through multiple layers of oscillator elements. Lastly, we show that the combination of these two schemes yields immense benefits for signal detection. These benefits could be essential for male mosquitoes to be able to identify and pursue a particular female within a noisy swarm environment.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• BPS2025 - Simplifying a biophysical model for auditory hair cells

  Biophysical Journal · 2025-02-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Mechanical coupling between hair cells of the inner ear

  NSF · $565k · 2009–2012

• Nonlinear Dynamics of Auditory Hair Cells and Efferent Neurons

  NSF · $552k · 2022–2025

• Mechanisms of Self-Tuning in Inner Ear Hair Cells

  NIH · $1.5M · 2011–2016

• Criticality and Active Dynamics in Mechanical Detection by the Inner Ear

  NSF · $590k · 2019–2022

• Nonlinear dynamics and coding in auditory and vestibular systems

  NIH · $367k · 2016–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Justin Faber

  University of California, Los Angeles

  29 shared

• Albert Kao

  Washington University in St. Louis

  29 shared

• Lea Fredrickson-Hemsing

  University of California, Los Angeles

  27 shared

• C. Elliott Strimbu

  Columbia University

  25 shared

• Damien Ramunno-Johnson

  Oregon Health & Science University

  25 shared

• Yuttana Roongthumskul

  Chulalongkorn University

  18 shared

• Sebastiaan W. F. Meenderink

  VA Loma Linda Healthcare System

  17 shared

• Seung Ji

  Los Angeles Mission College

  15 shared

Labs

• Bozovic LabPI

  Focuses on problems at the interface between physics and auditory neuroscience, specializing in nonlinear dynamics of hair cells and their interaction with neural systems.