Hearing/Speaking

Question 1

What is sound

Answer 1

Air molecules that bind together

Question 2

What are sound waves?

Answer 2

Changs in air pressure caused by vibrating air molecules

Question 3

No sound is perceived unless…

Answer 3

There is someone to convert the sound waves into our electrical signals

Question 4

What is frequency?

Answer 4

The rate at which air molecules vibrate

Question 5

What generates a high pitch?

Answer 5

High frequency sound waves that are caused by fast vibrations

Question 6

What does amplitude refer to?

Answer 6

The number of air molecules that are vibrating in a sound wave

Question 7

What makes a sound seem louder?

Answer 7

An increased number of vibrating air molecules increases the amount of energy in a sound wave

Question 8

What determines a sounds complexity?

Answer 8

Most sounds are a mixture of frequencies, and the particular mixture determines the complexity

Question 9

What part of the ear collects and amplifies sound waves?

Answer 9

Outer ear (pinna)

Question 10

Why are sound waves that occur at 3000 Hz selectively amplified?

Answer 10

Human speech

Question 11

What is the function of the ear drum?

Answer 11

Transmits sound energy mechanically to the fluid filled inner ear (cochlea)

Question 12

What is the function of the cochlea?

Answer 12

Converts these mechanical vibrations into electrical signals

Question 13

Where are auditory receptor neurons located?

Answer 13

In the cochlea, next to the basilar membrane

Question 14

What to auditory receptor neurons do?

Answer 14

Convert sound into electrical signals

Question 15

How do the receptor neurons on different parts of the basilar membrane form a map, and what is the map called?

Answer 15

Tonotopic map

- Respond to different frequencies

Question 16

When do auditory receptor cells (hair cells) vibrate?

Answer 16

If the appropriate frequency is heard

Question 17

What does vibrations of the hair cells in the cochlea result in?

Answer 17

The physical opening and closing of ion channels

Question 18

What can damage to the cochlea hairs result in?

Answer 18

Hearing loss

Question 19

What is amplitude denoted by?

Answer 19

Frequency of action potentials

Question 20

Where do hair cells in the cochlea send their axons?

Answer 20

Regions of the brainstem, which are then relayed to the midbrain, thalamus and cerebral cortex

Question 21

What does the opposite hemisphere recieve?

Answer 21

Preferential input

Question 22

What is the audible spectrum for humans?

Answer 22

20-20000 Hz

Question 23

Why can smaller animals detect higher frequencies?

Answer 23

The cochleae of smaller animals are smaller and therefore resonate better at higher frequencies

Question 24

What does sound localisation result from?

Answer 24

Integrating information from the two ears

Question 25

What detects the differences in sound (of the two ears)?

Answer 25

Neurons in the brainstem and midbrain

Question 26

How are the neurons in the primary auditory cortex arranged?

Answer 26

Tonotopic map

• Respond to different frequencies of sound
• High frequency are grouped together

Question 27

What does Wernicke’s area contain?

Answer 27

Sound images of words

Question 28

What is Wernicke’s aphasia?

Answer 28

Inability to understand or produce meaningful language even though the production of words is intact

Question 29

What is an explanation for stuttering?

Answer 29

Competition for dominance between left and right hemispheres

Question 30

Why does reading and writing involve more than just the language areas of the brain?

Answer 30

• Visual cortex takes information from the page and the motor cortex actives the muscles used for writing

Question 31

What is the vestibular system important for?

Answer 31

Balance and movement