Task 9 - The auditory system

Question 1

How can we hear

Answer 1

auditory system detects changes in the vibration of air molecules - encoding rapid changes in the intensity of sound along with variations in the frequency of sound

transduction of the mechanical energy of sound into the form of electrical energy that the brain can understand

Question 2

pure tone (sound characteristics )

Answer 2

single frequency of vibration

Question 3

loudness (sound characteristics )

Answer 3

experience of pressure level of sound

Question 4

decibel (sound characteristics )

Answer 4

measure of sound intensity

Question 5

frequency (sound characteristics )

Answer 5

number of cycles per second in sound wave

Question 6

pitch

Answer 6

sound vary from low to high

Question 7

timbre

Answer 7

quality of musical instrument

Question 8

middle ear

Answer 8

cavity between the tympanic membrane and the cochlea

Question 9

tympanic membrane

Answer 9

partition between the external ear and the middle ear

Question 10

ossicles

Answer 10

three small bones that transmit sound from the tympanic membrane to the oval window

Question 11

oval window

Answer 11

on the surface of the cochlea at which vibrations are received from the ossicles

Question 12

malleus (hammer)

Answer 12

ear bone that is connected to the tympanic membrane

Question 13

incus

Answer 13

bone situated between the malleus and the stapes

Question 14

tensor tympanic

Answer 14

muscles attached to the malleus that modulates mechanical linkage to protect the delicate receptor cells of the inner ear from damaging sound

Question 15

stapedius

Answer 15

middle ear muscle that is attached to the stapes

Question 16

inner ear function

Answer 16

converts sound into neural activity

Question 17

cochlea (inner ear)

Answer 17

snail-shaped structure - primarily receptor cells for hearing

Question 18

vestibular canal (inner ear)

Answer 18

canal running the length of the cochlea

Question 19

middle canal (inner ear)

Answer 19

central canal running the length of the cochlea

Question 20

tympanic canal (inner ear)

Answer 20

canal running the length of the cochlea

Question 21

round window (inner ear)

Answer 21

membrane separating the cochlear duct from the middle-ear cavity

Question 22

organ of corti (inner ear)

Answer 22

contains the hair cells and the terminations of the auditory nerve

Question 23

Hair cells (inner ear)

Answer 23

cochlear auditory receptor cell

Question 24

basilar membrane (inner ear)

Answer 24

membrane that contains the principal structures involved in auditory transduction

Question 25

neural pathway for auditory system

Answer 25

1. input form the auditory nerve is distributed to both sides of the brain via the ascending network
2. auditory nerve divides into two - one branch goes to the cochlear nucleus and the ventral cochlear nucleus

Question 26

bilateral input

Answer 26

key role in localizing sounds by comparing the two ears

Question 27

tonotopic organization

Answer 27

specially arranged map according to the frequencies to which they respond

Question 28

place encoding

Answer 28

encoding sound of frequency as a function of the location on the basilar membrane that is most stimulated by that sound

Question 29

temporal encoding

Answer 29

encoding of sound frequency in term of the number of action potentials per second produced by an auditory nerve

Question 30

duplex theory

Answer 30

we localize sound by combining information about intensity differences and latency differences between two ears