Week 7 Flashcards
Middle ear
Two cubic centimeter cavity separating inner from outer ear
Middle ear contains three ossicles:
Malleus
Incus
Stapes
Malleus
Moves due to the vibration of the tympanic membrane (eardrum)
Incus
Transmits vibrations of malleus
Stapes
Transmit vibrations of incus to the inner ear via the oval window of the cochlea
The outer and middle ear are filled with _____.
Air
The inner ear is filled with ____ that is much ____ than air.
Fluid; Denser.
Pressure changes in the air transmit ____ Inyo the denser medium
Poorly
- Less than 1% of the vibration can transmit directly.
The ossicles act to ____ the vibration for better transmission to the fluid.
Amplify
- Can do this up to a factor 50.
Pinna
(Outer ear)
Helps with sound location and amplification and is responsible for steering signal into auditory canal.
Auditory Canal
Tube-like structure just long enough to protect the tympanic membrane (eardrum) at the closed end.
- sound waves reflect off the end of the canal and create resonance.
Acoustic reflex of the ossicles
Can reduce transmission of loud sounds by about 20 dB.
Middle ear muscles can dampen the ossicles’ vibration to protect the inner ear from potentially damaging the stimuli.
The main structuere of the inner ear is the ___.
cochlea
Cochlea
Where sound waves are traduced into neural signals.
- fluid-filled, snail-shaped.
- sound waves are transduced into neural signals within the cochlea.
- vibrates with motion of the stapes and eardrum.
-signals will be transmitted out of the cochlea via the auditory nerve.
The ___- pushes against the _____, transmitting atmospheric vibrations directly to the inner ear.
Stapes; oval window.
Structure of the cochlea
- Hard, bony
- Divided into the scala vestibule (above) and scala tympani (below) by the cochlear partition.
- Cochlear partition extends from the base (stapes end) to the apex (top end). Base > Apex
What is contained within the cochlear partition (in the scala media)?
Organ of Corti
Where does transduction occur?
In the organ of Corti
- sits on the basilar membrane
- basilar membrane vibrates in response to sound and supports the organ of Corti
- inner ((~3500) and outer hair cells (~12000) are the receptors used for hearing.
Transduction takes place by:
Stereocilia
Stereocilia
Hair cells
Heir cells bending in response to pressure changes from vibration of the Organ of Corti against the tectorial membrane or fluid surrounding it.
Movement of inner hair cell Stereocilia in one direction
Opens ion channels via tip links.
Movement in other direction closes the channels
Outer hair cells amplify this.
Two ways nerve fibers can signal frequency:
- Which/Where nerve fibers are responding.
- specific groups of hair cells on bail ar membrane activate a specific set of nerve fibers.
- place theory - How/When fibers are firing
- rate or pattern of filing of nerve impulses.
- temporal coding
Place theory
Georg Von Bekesy’s place theory of hearing says that the frequency of sound is indicated by the location/place (of hair cells) along the cochlea that has the highest firing rate.
Two ways Bekesy determined place theory:
- Through the direct observation of the vibrational properties of the basilar membrane in cadavers.
- By building a model of the cochlea using the physical properties of the basilar membrane.