This talk will review recent stochastic-thermodynamics approaches to describe the nonequilibrium nature of spontaneous fluctuations in active mechanosensory hair-cell bundles that are responsible of sound transduction. Particular emphasis will be given to coarse-grained experimental data extracted from bullfrog's sacculus --a paradigm of active oscillations in a real biological system. To this aim, different approaches to estimate the underlying dissipation of active fluctuations will be discussed: fluctuation-dissipation theorems, irreversibility measures, and non-Markovian modelling. If time available, a swift appetizer will be given on how stochastic thermodynamics can be useful in understanding power and efficiency of sound transduction, drawing analogies between hair-cell bundles and work-to-work machines [3].
[1] Roldan et al, NJP 23, 08313 (2021)
[2] Tucci et al, PRL 129 (3), 03063 (2022)
[3] Saliekh et al, in preparation (2023)
