Unit 3: Part 3: The Ear/Hearing

Question 1

Sound Wavelength

Answer 1

pitch and volume

Question 2

Outer Ear

Answer 2

Pinna, Ear Lobe, Ear Canal

Question 3

Middle Ear

Answer 3

Tympanic Membrane (eardrum), Auditory Ossicles: Hammer, Anvil, Stirrup; Oval Window

Question 4

Inner Ear

Answer 4

Semicircular Canal, Cochlea, Basilar Membrane

Question 5

First Step of Hearing

Answer 5

Sound waves strike eardrum (tympanic membrane) making it vibrate

Question 6

Second Step of Hearing

Answer 6

Auditory Ossicles (three structures) pick up vibration and transmits to cochlea in inner ear

Question 7

Third Step of Hearing

Answer 7

Cochlea’s Opening (oval window) vibrates and jostles fluid inside cochlea which causes ripples in basilar membrane which bends hair cells

Question 8

Fourth Step of Hearing

Answer 8

Hair cells (cilia) trigger nerve cells that converge to form auditory nerve

Question 9

Fifth Step of Hearing

Answer 9

Transfers to thalamus and then to auditory cortex/temporal lobe

Question 10

Sensorineural

Answer 10

nerve deafness, damage to hair cell receptors or auditory nerve (muffled sounds)

Question 11

Conduction

Answer 11

damage to the mechanical system, such as eardrum or middle ear bones
Cochlear Implant: a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded to cochlea

Question 12

Loudness

Answer 12

the number of activated hair cells

Question 13

Place Theory

Answer 13

pitch is determined by recognizing the place on the basilar membrane that is generating a neural signal (high pitches)

Question 14

Frequency Theory

Answer 14

pitch is determined because brain deciphers the frequency of neural impulses traveling up auditory nerve to the brain (low pitches)