5.3 - How Do We Hear? Flashcards
Audition
hearing
sense of sound perception
Sound wave
A pattern of changes in air pressure that produce the perception of sound
Amplitude
How loud a sound is
Frequency
frequency of sound waves are processed for the perception of pitch
What do eardrums do?
(ear bouncers)
receive vibrations from sound waves and pass them on
Auditory nerve
carries nerve impulses to the thalamus
Primary auditory cortex
major perceptual center of the brain involved in our perception of sound
Vestibular Sense
Perception of balance determined by receptors in the inner ear
Vestibular Sacs
Structures that influence our ability to sense when our head is no longer upright
- liquid
What do semicircular canals respond to?
when your head moves in different directions
What are two cues used to localize sound?
- time
sound will reach one ear first and sound softer in the other ear which allows us to determine where it’s coming from - sound’s intensity in each ear
Q: How do loud sounds lead to hearing loss?
Permanently damaging the hair cells in the inner ear
Q: What are the primary auditory receptors?
Hair cells on the basilar membrane that bend with auditory vibrations and transduce the mechanical signal into neural impulses
Temporal coding
firing rates of the cochlear hair cells match the frequency of the pressure wave
Place coding
high, medium, and low-frequency sound waves activate different regions of the basilar membrane
