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PSYCH 367 > Chapter 11 > Flashcards

Chapter 11 Flashcards

1
Q

What is the physical definition of sound?

A

Sound is pressure changes in the air or other medium

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2
Q

What is the perceptual definition of sound?

A

Sound is the experience we have when we hear

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3
Q

What is compression?

A

When air molecules get pushed together
Causes a slight increase in the density of molecules
Local increase in pressure

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4
Q

What is rarefaction?

A

Air molecules spread out
Causes a slight decrease in air pressure

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5
Q

What is a sound wave?

A

The pattern or air pressure changes, which travels through air at 340 m/s

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6
Q

What is a pure tone?

A

Occurs when changes in air pressure occur in a pattern described by sine.

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7
Q

What is frequency?

A

The number of cycles that the pressure changes and repeat per second

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8
Q

What is amplitude?

A

The size of the pressure change

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9
Q

What is a periodic waveform?

A

A wave that repeats itself

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10
Q

What is fundamental frequency?

A

The repetition rate

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11
Q

What is the first harmonic?

A

Equal to the fundamental frequency

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12
Q

What are higher harmonics?

A

Pure tones with frequencies that are whole-number multiples of the fundamental frequency

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13
Q

What are frequency spectra?

A

A plot indicating the frequency of the waveform
Provide a way of indicating a complex tone’s fundamental frequency

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14
Q

What is loudness?

A

The perceptual quality that is most closely related to the level or amplitude of an auditory stimulus

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15
Q

What is the audibility curve?

A

Indicates the threshold for hearing versus frequency and indicates that we can hear sounds between 20 and 20 000 Hz but we are most sensitive to frequencies between 2000 and 4000 Hz

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16
Q

What did Stevens find about audition?

A

He used magnitude estimation to show the relationship between decibels and loudness.
Loudness was judged relative to a 40 dB SPL tone
A pure tone that sounds 10x louder than the 40 dB SPL tone would be judged to have a loudness of 1-
Increasing dB by 10 doubles the loudness

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17
Q

What is the auditory response area?

A

We can hear any tones that fall within this area
At intensities below, we cannot hear the tone
At the upper boundary, there is the threshold of feeling = tones with these high amplitudes we can feel because they are painful

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18
Q

What are equal loudness curves?

A

Indicate the sound levels that create the same perception of loudness at different frequencies

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19
Q

What is pitch?

A

The perceptual quality we describe as high or low
A property of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds may be ordered on a musical scale extending from low to high

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20
Q

What physical property is pitch related to?

A

Fundamental frequency

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21
Q

What pitch are low frequencies associated with?

A

Low pitches

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22
Q

What pitch are high frequencies associated with?

A

High pitches

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23
Q

What is tone height?

A

The perceptual experience of increasing pitch that accompanies increases in a tone’s fundamental frequency

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24
Q

What is a tone chroma?

A

Notes of the same letter sound similar
Every time we pass the same letter on a keyboard, we have gone up an octave
Tones separated by octaves have the same tone chroma

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25
What are notes with the same chroma separated by?
They have fundamental frequencies that are separated by a multiple of two
26
What is the effect of the missing fundamental?
The pitch remains the same even when the fundamental or other harmonics are removed
27
What is timbre?
The quality that distinguishes between two tones that have the same loudness, pitch, and duration
28
What does removing harmonics affect?
The tone's timbre
29
What does timbre depend on?
The time course of the tone's attack and of the tone's decay?
30
What is the tone attack?
The buildup of sound at the beginning of the tone
31
What is tone decay?
The decrease in sound at the end of the tone
32
What are aperiodic sounds?
Sounds that have waveforms that do not repeat
33
What are the pinnae?
The structures that stick out from the sides of the head Helps us determine the location of sound
34
What is the auditory canal?
A tube about 3 cm long Protects the structures of the middle ear Resonance
35
What is the tympanic membrane?
Keeps the membrane and middle ear a constant temp
36
What is resonance?
Occurs in the auditory canal when sound waves that are reflected back from the closed end of the auditory canal interact with sound waves that are entering the canal
37
What is the resonant frequency?
The frequency that is reinforced the most
38
What does the middle ear contain?
Ossicles
39
What do the stapes push on to transmit vibrations?
The oval window
40
Why are the ossicles necessary?
The inner ear contains liquid that is denser than air Ossicles concentrate the vibrations by about a factor of 20 and act a lever so that the sound pressure increases sufficiently
41
What do the middle ear muscles do?
The contract in response to loud sounds to dampen the ossicles vibrations to reduce the transmission of low-frequency components and helps to prevent intense low-frequency components from interfering with our perception of high frequencies
42
What is the main structure of the inner ear?
The cochlea
43
What is the organ of Corti?
Contains the hair cells
44
What does the basilar and tectorial membranes do?
Activate hair cells
45
How many inner hair cells are there?
1 row 3500 hair cells
46
How many outer hair cells are there?
3 rows 12000 hair cells
47
What are stereocilia?
At the tips of hair cells which bend in response to pressure changes
48
Which hair cells are embedded in the tectorial membrane?
Outer hair cells
49
What happens to the stereocilia when the pressure increases?
They bend to the right so the hair cell is activated and the attached auditory nerve fibers tend to fire
50
What happens to the stereocilia when the pressure decreases?
They bend to the left and no firing occurs
51
What is phase locking?
The property of firing at the same place in the sound stimulus
52
What frequencies cause more vibration at the base of the cochlea?
high frequencies
53
What frequencies cause more vibration at the apex of the cochlea?
Low frequencies
54
What is a tonotopic map?
Map of frequencies with high frequencies activating the base of the cochlea and low frequencies activating the apex
55
What are neural frequency tuning curves?
Determined by presenting pure tones of different frequencies and measuring the sound level necessary to cause the neuron to increase its firing above baseline in the absence of sounds
56
How is the cochlea's filtering action reflected?
The neurons respond best to one frequency Each frequency is associated with nerve fibers located at a specific place along the basilar membrane
57
What is the cochlear amplifier mechanism?
An active process that takes place in the outer hair cells
58
What is place theory?
The brain identifies which neurons are responding the most and uses this information to determine the pitch Based on the relation between a sound's frequency and the place along the basilar membrane that is activated
59
What are some arguments against place theory?
Effect of the missing fundamental (removing the fundamental frequency of a complex tone does not change its pitch)
60
What is the modified version of place theory?
Explains this result by considering how the basilar membrane vibrates to complex tones
61
What are resolved harmonics?
Lower harmonics that can be distinguished by a peak and frequency information is available for perceiving pitch
62
What are unresolved harmonics?
Created by higher harmonics resulting in smooth functions that do not indicate the individual harmonics Result in poor pitch perception
63
What is amplitude-modulated noise?
Creates a perception of pitch by containing many random frequencies that don’t create a vibration pattern on the basilar membrane that corresponds with a specific frequency
64
What is amplitude modulation?
The level or intensity of noise is changed so that the loudness of the noise fluctuates rapidly up and down
65
What is temporal coding?
The major mechanism of pitch perception
66
What is the pathway of audio to the brain?
Auditory nerves from the cochlea synapse in a sequence of subcortical structures Sequence begins with the cochlear nucleus, continues to the superior olivary nucleus, the inferior colliculus, and the medial geniculate nucleus From the medial geniculate nucleus, the fibers continue to the primary auditory cortex in the temporal lobe
67
What are pitch neurons?
Cortical neurons which respond to a specific pitch
68
What area is most responsive to pitch?
The anterior auditory cortex
69
What is presbycusis?
Hair cell damage resulting from the cumulative effects over time of noise exposure, the ingestion of drugs that damage hair cells, and age-related degeneration Loss of sensitivity is greatest to high frequencies
70
What is noise-induced hearing loss?
Occurs when loud noises cause degeneration of the hair cells
71
What is leisure noise?
Activities like listening to music, recreational gun use, riding motorcycles and working with power tools
72
What is hidden hearing loss?
People with normal hearing who have trouble hearing in a noisy environment

PSYCH 367 (27 decks)

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