Hearing And Language Flashcards
Tympanic membrane
tympanic membrane
The eardrum, which converts sound waves into the action of the auditory ossicles.
Auditory ossicles
The three bones in the middle ear that relay vibration from the tympanic membrane to the oval window of the cochlea. The three bones are the malleus, incus, and stapes.
Oval window
The membrane between the middle ear and the choclea. The auditory ossicles called the stapes push on the oval window causing a wave of fluid to travel through the cochlea.
Independence mismatching
The fact that fluid in the cochlea is harder to move than air. To accommodate this, the movement of the large tympanic membrane is focused onto the small oval window.
Cochlea
A bony, fluid-filled snail-shaped structure containing three chambers. It is where wave action affects neuron firing on the organ of Corti.
Basilar membrane
The flexible membrane that makes up the base of the organ of Corti. It is tonotopic, thinner near the base, and thicker near the apex.
Organ of corti
The structure where auditory transduction takes place. It is made of the basilar membrane, hair cells, and the tectorial membrane.
Hair cells
Neurons between the basilar membrane and the tectorial membrane. They affect the vestibulocochlear nerve.
Tectoral membrane
The thicker membrane at the top of the organ of Corti where the stereocilia of the hair cells attach.
Stereocilia
The fine filaments that connect the hair cells with the tectorial membrane. They are responsible for affecting mechanoreceptor ion channels.
Mechanoreceptors
Receptors on hair cells that open ion channels through the physical movement of stereocilia.
Tonotopic
The fact that structures such as the basilar membrane and auditory cortex are maps of tone frequencies. In the basilar membrane, high frequencies are decoded near the base, and lower frequencies are decoded near the apex.
Place theory of hearing
A theory by Georg von Békésy that different areas of the basilar membrane code for different frequencies. High frequencies produce short wavelengths that affect hair cells near the base of the basilar membrane, while low frequencies produce long wavelengths that affect hair cells farther down the basilar membrane.
Medial geniculate nucleus
An area that gets information from the auditory system and sends it to the auditory cortex. It also gets information from the frontal lobe to affect attention.
McGurk Effect
An auditory illusion where one perceives different sounds depending on whether the sound is played alone or when watching a person speak the sound.
Synesthesia
A condition where some people have perceptions that cross sensory modalities.
Language acquisition device
A theoretical brain structure unique to humans enabling language acquistion.
Broca’s area
An area responsible in part for language production. It is typically found on the left posterior part of the inferior frontal lobe.
Broca’s aphasia
The inability or impairment of speaking caused by damage to Broca’s area.
Wernickes area
A part of the superior and posterior temporal lobe that plays a large role in language comprehension.
Wernicke’s aphasia
Difficulty with language comprehension caused by damage in and around Wernicke’s area.
Word salad
Words spoken with the right intonation and rhythm but do not make sense. A condition found in people with forms of psychosis or damage to Wernicke’s area.
Classical model
Also known as the Wernicke-Geschwind model, it is the long-standing model of the neurobiology of language emphasizing the connections between Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area.
Arcuate facicuite
The connections between Broca’s and Wernicke’s area; damage to this area causes conduction aphasia.
