In a “classical” model of the cochlea the response is controlled by a local parameter function, for instance, the BM impedance. In a non-classical model, the response is controlled by parameters that are distributed over space. In this note it is shown to which extent classical and non-classical models are equivalent. To each non-classical model there exists one classical model that yields the same response. However, the BM impedance of that classical model does not necessarily obey the requirements of a driving-point impedance.