Week 10 Flashcards
Compressed
Regions of high air pressure
Rarefied
Regions of low air pressure
Intensity
Power proportional to the square of the amplitude of sound pressure over the sound wave (Measured in Watts)
Frequency
The # of peaks per second (inverse of wave length)
Spectrum
A graph showing the different component frequencies in a sound
Periods
The amount of time required for one angle of a sound wave to pass a particular point
Pitch
The psychological property corresponding to frequency; the property that allows sounds to be ordered on a musical scale
Sine wave
A waveform with a single frequency; a smooth, regular oscillation between peaks
Timbre
Perceptual dimension of sound determined by its complexity allows us to distinguish different qualities of instruments playing the same note
Outer hair cells
Act as little motors that detect movement in the basilar membrane
Frequency resolution
Ability to hear 2 frequencies that are very close to each other as different sounds
Cochlear implant
Electronic device that can provide a sense of sound to someone that is profoundly hard of hearing. Includes a microphone and a processor
How the brain interprets frequencies
Place code
tonotopic organziation
temporal code
Place code
Brain knows which pitch has been heard based on the location of the nerve fibres that are stimulated
Tonotopic organization
Anatomical separation of frequencies in the ear
Temporal code
Everytime there is a compression in the sound wave, the hair cell depolarizes and an action potential is created
Volley principle
An auditory nerve as a whole produces volleys of impulses for sounds up to about 5 000 per second, even know no individual axon can fire that fast
Harmonics
Series of tones whose frequency is a multiple of the fundamental frequency
Pattern recognition
Identification of a particular sound sources by the auditory system, largely through timbre
3 Ways our ears recognize sound
- Sounds coming into our ears bounce of pinna. Bounding systematically changes the timbre
- Timing: Sounds coming from one side of the head will arrive at both ears at different times
- Sounds that are further away will be less intense
Olfactory mucosa
Mucosa membrane lining the top of the nasal sinuses that contain the olfactory receptors
Olfactory bulbs
Stalk-like structures located on the underside of the frontal loves that contain neural circuits that preform the first analysis of olfactory information
How gustation works
Signals go from tongue and mouth to brainstem and thalamus
How olfactory works
Information travels from the bulbs along the olfactory nerve, directly to the underside of the frontal cortex, where the primary olfactory cortex is
