Other Sensory Systems and Attention Flashcards
The physical stimuli for hearing, are set up by vibrating bodies in our environment and transmitted through air to our eardrums.
Sound Waves
A very intense compression of air produces sound waves of great amplitude, which listener hears as great loudness.
TRUE
The intensity of the sound waves.
Amplitude
The perception of intensity.
Loudness
The number of compressions per second, measured in Hz.
Frequency
The perception related to frequency.
Pitch
Structures of the Outer Ear
Pinna
External Auditory Canal
Tympanic Membrane
Structures of the Middle Ear
Ossicles
Eustachian Tube
Structures of Inner Ear
Semicircular Canals
Cochlea
Basilar Membrane
Hair Cells
Helps us to locate the sound, the familiar structure of the flesh and cartilage attached to each side of the head.
Pinna
Divides the outer ear from the middle ear vibrates at the same frequency as the sound waves that strike it.
Tympanic Membrane
The tympanic membrane is about 40 times larger than the footplate stirrup.
FALSE (20 times larger)
Three small bones that are connected and transmit the sound waves to the inner ear.
Ossicles
What are the three small ossicles.
Malleus
Incus
Stapes
A canal that links the middle ear with the back of the nose; helps to equalize pressure in the middle ear.
Eustachian Tube
Equalized pressure is not needed for the proper transfer of sound waves.
FALSE (needed)
Three tiny fluid filled tubes lined with tiny hair structures that help us keep balance.
Semicircular Canals
A snail-like structure which interacts with the middle ear via two holes: oval window and round window.
Cochlea
Three long fluid-filled tunnels located inside the cochlea.
Scala Vestibuli
Scala Media
Scala Tympani
Located inside the cochlea; narrowest and most stiff at the base of the cochlea, and the widest and least stiff at the apex.
Basilar Membrane
Auditory receptors, lie between the basilar membrane of the cochlea on one side and the tectorial membrane on the other.
Hair Cells
A hair cells responds within microseconds to displacements as small as 0.1 nanometer, thereby opening on channels in its membrane.
TRUE
Depends on our ability to differentiate among sounds of different frequencies.
Pitch Perfection
This theory suggests that the basilar membrane vibrates in synchrony with a sound, causing auditory nerve axons to produce action potentials at the same frequency.
Frequency Theory
Suggests that the basilar membrane resembles the strings of a piano in that each area along the membrane is tuned to a specific frequency and vibrates in its presence.
Place Theory
The basilar membrane does not vibrate in synchrony with the sound waves, and the auditory nerve axons do not generate one action potential per wave.
Low-Frequency Sounds
Because of the refractory period of the axon, as sound go much above 100 Hz, it is harder and harder for a neuron to continue firing in synchrony with the sound waves.
High-Frequency Sound
The auditory nerve as a whole can have volleys of impulses up to about 4000 per second, even though no individual axon can approach that frequency by itself.
Volley Principle of Pitch Discrimination
