Recent experimental observations of otoacoustic emissions suggest the existence of spontaneous emitters of sound on the basilar membrane. These tend to send off waves not only in the normal direction of propagation. It is therefore significant to study the environmental conditions such an emitter finds inside the cochlea. The impedance relations seen by these emitters are described by the Riccati equation for an inhomogeneous transmission line. The results reported in this paper differ considerably for forward and backward excitation. This reflects the quite different behavior of the cochlea pertaining to waves traveling forward and backward. Because of reflections, backward waves cannot be treated with the Liouville–Green approximation.