part of spiral organ outer hair cell Any of approximately 25,000 hair cells in the organ of Corti, specialized as transducers of sound waves into nerve impulses and sensitive to low sound levels, easily damaged by loud noise (over 85 decibels), and probably involved in encoding information about the loudness of sounds. So called because they are nearer to the outside of the cochlea than are the inner hair cells. BTO:0003666 BrendaTissueOBO