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Audiology and ENT Yr2 > An overview of the anatomy and physiology of the auditory system. > Flashcards

An overview of the anatomy and physiology of the auditory system. Flashcards

1
Q

What is sound?

A

Sound is changes in pressure over time.

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2
Q

Any vibrating object creates ________ waves.

A

pressure

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3
Q

If you are near enough to a vibrating object , the _____ _________ at your ear _________.

A

Air pressure

changes

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4
Q

pressure changes happen all the time but it happens so ________ that we can’t hear the sound.

A

slow

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5
Q

We hear “sound” only in a certain ______ of _________.

A

Range, vibrations.

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6
Q

What is resonant frequency?

A

A frequency something likes to vibrate at.

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7
Q

Every Object has a ______ frequency.

A

resonant.

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8
Q

What is the auditory system’s role?

A

To distinguish between the complex mixture of low frequency and high frequency sounds.

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9
Q

Where do sound waves travel?

A

Through the air.

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10
Q

Mammalian sensory receptors are located in an __________ environment.

A

aqueous

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11
Q

Because the cochlea is fluid and sound waves travel in air- what does this create?

A

an impedance mismatch

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12
Q

If we only had an inner ear- with impedance mismatch, what would happen?

A

99.9% of acoustic energy would be lost (reflected).

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13
Q

Name the parts of the Outer Ear.

A 
Pinna
Ear Canal  (auditory meatus)
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14
Q

What is the role of the outer ear?

A

To focus sound down and into the ear canal.

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15
Q

What does the pinna act as?

A

A directional Filter.

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16
Q

The pinna acts as a directional filter and __________ sounds.

A

amplifying.

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17
Q

When we turn our head to the side, the sound can be __________.

A

Amplified.

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18
Q

The ear canal results in what?

A

This resonance along the tube results in about a 10dB increase.

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19
Q

The ______ and ________ amplify pressure at the ear drum.

A

pinna

ear canal

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20
Q

How much does the outer ear increase the sound pressure level by?

A

20dB.

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21
Q

What can go wrong in terms of the outer ear?

A
  • malformation or missing outer ear

- obstruction in ear canal (like wax)

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22
Q

Name the parts of the middle ear.

A
  • Tympanic membrane
  • Ossicles
  • Middle ear muscles
  • Eustachian Tube
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23
Q

What are middle ear muscles attached to?

A

The ossicles.

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24
Q

Why would the middle ear muscles contract?

A

As a reflex to protect hearing.

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25
Q

What would change the resonant frequency of the ear?

A

Obstruction in ear canal (like wax). It moves the resonant frequency away from range of speech.

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26
Q

There is increasing ______ in the middle ear.

A

Pressure.

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27
Q

Why is there increasing pressure within the middle ear?

A

The area of the eardrum is larger than that of the footplate at the oval window- squeezes same amount into a smaller space, increasing the pressure.

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28
Q

The length of the ______ is slightly greater than the length of the inferior process of the _________. What does it increase and what does it act as?

A

Manubrium
Incus
Increases pressure by 2 dB
Acts as a lever.

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29
Q

From the tympanic membrane to the oval window, there’s a ______ dB gain in sound pressure.

A

25

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30
Q

What can go wrong in the middle ear?

A
  • malformed or missing ear bones

- dampened vibration due to fluid build up.

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31
Q

What does malformed/missing ear bones result in?

A

Loss of amplification (25 dB).

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32
Q

When the middle ear is filled with fluid, what is this called?

A

Glue ear.

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33
Q

How does glue ear affect hearing?

A

It’s harder for the bones to vibrate, missing out on the amplification.

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34
Q

What makes up the inner ear?

A
  • Oval Window
  • Vestibular Apparatus
  • Cochlea
  • Semi-circular canals
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35
Q

What’s the fancy name for the ear canal?

A

Auditory Meatus.

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36
Q

Whats the fancy name for the auditory tube?

A

Eustachian Tube.

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37
Q

The inner ear has 2 sensory structures, name these.

A
  • Vestibular Apparatus

- Cochlea

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38
Q

What does the vestibular apparatus contain?

A

It contains sensory structures for balance and head movements.

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39
Q

What does the cochlea contain?

A

It contains sensory epithelium for hearing; the organ of corti.

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40
Q

Name this-

A 3 chambered, tubular bony structure wound into a helix.

A

Cochlea.

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41
Q

The central axis of the helix of the cochlea is referred to as what?

A

The modiolus.

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42
Q

Describe how vibrations get into the cochlea.

A
  • Oval window vibrates the vestibule (contains sensory epithelia for the vestibular apparatus- saccule & utricle).
  • Vestibule leads into the scala vestibuli (upper duct of the cochlea)
  • Waves of pressure pass through the scala vestibuli and back out through the scala tympani (lower duct of the cochlea), terminating at the round window.
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43
Q

The saccule and utricle make up the _____ ________.

A

Vestibular apparatus.

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44
Q

What is the upper duct of the cochlea called?

A

The scala vestibuli

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45
Q

What is the lower duct of the cochle called?

A

The scala tympani.

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46
Q

What is the scala media part of?

A

The cochlea.

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47
Q

What does the scala media include?

A
  • Organ of Corti

- Stria Vascularis

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48
Q

What is the organ of corti?

A

Sensory epithelium containing the auditory hair cells.

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49
Q

What regulates the ionic and metabolic environment of scala media?

A

Stria Vascularis.

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50
Q

The organ of corti is __________ of _____ ___________.

A

Rows, hair cells.

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51
Q

What are the hair cells in the organ of corti connected up to?

A

Nerve Fibres.

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52
Q

Objects vibrate most strongly at their ______ _______________.

A

Resonant Frequency

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53
Q

What determines the resonant frequency of an object?

A

The mass and the stiffness of an object.

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54
Q

Resonant frequency goes up with ______ stiffness.

A

Increasing.

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55
Q

Resonant frequency goes down with _________ mass.

A

Increasing.

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56
Q

What would an object be if it had a high resonant frequency?

A

It would be stiff and light.

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57
Q

What would an object be if it had a low resonant frequency?

A

It would be loose and heavy.

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58
Q

What structure in the inner ear is used to separate low from high frequencies?

A

The basilar membrane.

59
Q

What membrane sits above the organ of corti?

A

Tectorial membrane.

60
Q

What membrane sits below the organ if corti?

A

Basilar membrane.

61
Q

Describe the basilar membrane.

A

It’s stiff and light at one end, and flexible and heavy at the other end.

62
Q

The basilar membrane’s ____ _________ changes over it’s _____________.

A

resonant frequency

length

63
Q

If a low frequency tone is played, what part of the basilar membrane will vibrate?

A

The loose and heavy end.

64
Q

If a high frequency tone is plays, what part of the basilar membrane will vibrate?

A

The stiff and light end.

65
Q

What is the basilar membrane populated with?

A

Hair cells.

66
Q

The basilar membrane is part of the _______.

A

Cochlea.

67
Q

What are the hair cells in the basilar membrane responsible for?

A

For tuning vibration into something the brain can understand.

68
Q

Hair cells are of ________ origin and resemble the cells that line the _________.

A

Epithelial

Stomach

69
Q

What form a bundle at the apical pole of the hair cell?

A

Stereocilia.

70
Q

What are stereocilia?

A

Stereocilia are at the tops of hair cells.

71
Q

Stereocilia have thread at their tips. What are these called?

A

Tip links.

72
Q

A cell is stimulated, the current rushes in, changes the ________ and travels along the _________.

A

Voltage, Neuron.

73
Q

An action potential is always the _________.

A

Same.

74
Q

An _______ potential is either triggered or not.

A

action.

75
Q

What is the currency/language of the brain?

A

Neurotransmitters.

76
Q

At the end of the neuron, what is released and what does this cause?

A

Neurotransmitters are released and this causes the next neuron to let chemicals in.

77
Q

Hair cells are stimulated, what does this cause the stereocilia to do?

A

To move in one direction- causing a change in the firing rate.

78
Q

Depolarisation _________ impulse frequency whereas hyperpolarisation ________ impulse frequency.

A

increases

decreases.

79
Q

An inner hair cell has lots of _________ fibres, why?

A

Afferent.

To take information to the brain.

80
Q

An outer hair cell has few connections to the ___________. It has more _____________ fibres,why?

A

brain

efferent, takes information from the brain.

81
Q

What is the role of inner hair cells?

A

They turn vibrations into neural signals.

82
Q

What is the role of outer hair cells?

A

They amplify vibration.

83
Q

When activated/stimulated what happens to the outer hair cells?

A

They change shape and stiffness.

84
Q

Outer hair cells are ________.

A

Motile.

85
Q

Outer hair cells act as ______, increasing the amount of _________ on the basilar membrane.

A

Amplifiers

Vibration.

86
Q

Outer hair cells can move the _______ and __________membranes up or down.

A

Tectorial, basilar.

87
Q

___________ ___________ motion transmits forces to move hair cell bundles. What does this change?

A

Basilar membrane

It changes the receptor potentials of the outer hair cells.

88
Q

Changing the receptor potential makes outer hair cells….

A

Change shape.

89
Q

What happens when the outer hair cells change shape?

A

It generates force that feeds back onto the basilar membrane, amplifying its vibration.

90
Q

______ hair cells don’t touch the tectorial membrane.

A

inner.

91
Q

What does the loss of outer hair cells mean?

A

It means that vibration isn’t amplified.

92
Q

What does loss of inner hair cells mean?

A

It means there will be no signal to the brain.

93
Q

What would cause more hearing loss- outer or inner hair cells being lost?

A

Inner- as they communicate with the brain!

94
Q

What are hair cells vulnerable to?

A 
Noise
Infection
Aging
Certain drugs
Wear and Tear.
95
Q

What hair cells are known as boogie cells?

A

outer hair cells.

96
Q

What structure is responsible for encoding speech?

A

The basilar membrane.

97
Q

Name the 2 codes within pitch representation.

A
  • place code

- temporal code.

98
Q

What is place code?

A

The vibrations to a certain area of the basilar membrane tell us about the pitch.

99
Q

What is a limit to the place code?

A

The vibration spreads a bit along the basilar membrane so it isn’t very accurate/concise.

100
Q

What is temporal code?

A

Low and high frequency causes spikes of activity in the stereocilia. They fire in sync with the frequency.

101
Q

What is the limit of the temporal code?

A

It doesn’t work at high frequencies- too fast so the neurons can’t keep up (due to the refractory period before they can fire again).

102
Q

As both encoding systems have limits this is why…

A

They work together in parallel.

103
Q

Central representation of sound frequency tells you about what?

A

It tells you about the frequency response area, in other words the specificity of the cell.

104
Q

The central representation of sound graph tells us what?

A

How accurate hearing is. (what frequencies we hear).

105
Q

We should have a small _____ and a ______ length on the central representation of sound frequency.

A

Width

Long

106
Q

Although a hearing aid ampifies sound, what can’t it do?

A

It doesn’t give back any accuracy in picking up the different frequencies (receptive field can’t be narrowed)- so it will be louder but may still sound “muddy”.

107
Q

What happens with age?

A
  • neurons have higher thresholds

- receptive fields widen (gets less specific)

108
Q

What could an old person have problems with in regards to central representation of sound frequency?

A

telling the difference between [g] and [b].

109
Q

The central processing of sounds requires…

A

Lots of processes.

110
Q

The organ of _____ is involved in _________ ________ of sounds.

A

corti

central processing

111
Q

The ___________ map is maintained through much of the central auditory system.

A

Tonotopic.

112
Q

Where is the tonotopic map?

A

In the primary auditory cortex.

113
Q

Explain what the tonotopic map is.

A

The primary auditory cortex has a specific area for a specific frequency of sound.

114
Q

When the sound source is right in front of you what happens?

A

The sound arrives at the same time to both the Left and Right ear, as it travels the same distance.

115
Q

If the sound source is to the right- the sound takes longer to reach the _____ ear and shorter to reach the _____ ear.

A

left

right

116
Q

If it doesn’t take the same time for a sound to reach the L and R ear, what is this called?

A

Interaural time difference.

117
Q

What does interaural time difference help us tell?

A

It helps us to tell where the sound comes from.

118
Q

The head creates a ______ _______ that causes inetraural ________ differences.

A

Head shadoe

LEVEL

119
Q

What is the term for thinking the sound is coming from behind, when it is actually in front?

A

Front-Back Confusion

120
Q

__________ and ______________ cues on their own may be ambiguous and lead to front back confusion.

A

Interaural Time Difference

Interaural Level Difference

121
Q

When the head blocks high frequency sounds, what is this called?

A

A head shadow.

122
Q

What is a filter?

A

It takes away a specific frequency of sound.

123
Q

What does does a low pass noise take away?

A

High Frequency.

124
Q

What does does a high pass noise get rid of?

A

Low Frequency

125
Q

What does a band pass noise filter do?

A

It takes away high and low frequencies, leaving a little band of middle frequency left.

126
Q

If a tamber is applied you get ______ noise.

A

Shaped

127
Q

The head, pinna and ear canal act as a what?

A

They act as a directionally dependent spectral filter.

128
Q

How do the head, pinna and ear canal act as a directionally dependenr spectral filter?

A

They apply a different filter (certain tamber to them) so we can tell what direction the sound is coming from.

129
Q

Name this:

The pressure gain measured at the ear as a function of source location and frequency.

A

The head-related transfer function (HRTF)

130
Q

HRTFs are specific for specific ______ in space.

A

locations.

131
Q

Everyone filters sound _______, why?

A

Differently

Because everybody has a slightly different ear shape- unique to them (kinda like a fingerprint)

132
Q

______ _______ strip out HRTF so the sound doesn’t sound as natural.

A

Hearing aids.

133
Q

HRTF is heavily dependent on…

A

The shape of the ear.

134
Q

Sound localisation is useful for what specifically?

A

For conversation eg. being able to focus on person on Right and ignore person on left.

135
Q

Name an addressable source of hearing loss.

A

Wax in the ear- as wax can be removed.

136
Q

What is a source of hearing loss that we can’t address?

A

Hair cell loss- once they are gone, they are goneeee :(

137
Q

When the receptive field broadens what happens?

A

Sound clarity is reduced.

138
Q

Hearing is a ______ sense.

A

Fragile

139
Q

What do the physical properties of the outer and middle ear help to do?

A

They help sound vibrations pass into the inner ear.

140
Q

The heavy/compliant > light/stiff gradient along the _______ _______ means that different frequencies cause it to _______ most strongly in ___________ _______________.

A

Basilar membrane
vibrate
different places

141
Q

Vibrating inner hair cells causes them to send ______ _________ along the ___________ _____________.

A

Neural Impulses

Auditory Nerve

142
Q

Vibrating outer hair cells strengthens the….

A

vibration of the basilar membrane.

143
Q

What is the basis of the cochlear amplifier?

A

Outer hair cells.

144
Q

The arrangement of frequencies in the cochlea is maintained into the ___________________ __________________ ______________________ all the way up to the _____________________________ _________________ _____________________. hat is this referred to as?

A

Central auditory system
primary auditory cortex
Tonotopic Map

Audiology and ENT Yr2 (21 decks)

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