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23 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Describe the two basic qualities of sound: frequency and amplitude.
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Frequency is the number of times per second that a pattern of pressure change repeats. Amplitude is the magnitude of displacement (increase or decrease) of a sound pressure wave.
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How is amplitude associated with loudness?
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Loudness is the psychological aspect of sound related to perceived intensity or magnitude, while amplitude is the physical magnitude of displacement of a sound pressure wave. The more intense a sound wave, the louder it will sound.
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What is a sine wave and why is it important in studying auditory perception?
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A sine wave is a waveform for which variation as a function of time is a sine function. It is important in studying auditory perception because all sounds are made of sine wave, usually a combination of various sine waves. Understanding them is important to understanding auditory perception.
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What can be inferred by doing a Fourier analysis?
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A Fourier analysis is a mathematical theorem by which any sound can be divided into a set of sine waves. Combining these sine waves will reproduce the original sound.
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Describe the concept of timbre.
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Timbre is the psychological sensation by which a listener can judge that two sounds that have the same loudness and pitch are dissimilar. Timbre quality is conveyed by harmonics and other high frequencies.
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What are the roles of the ear canal?
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The ear canal is responsible for two things: 1) it conducts sound vibrations from the pinna to the tympanic membrane 2) it prevents damage to the tympanic membrane.
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Describe the three tiny bones in the middle ear.
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The three tiny bones in the middle ear are called ossicles: the malleus, the incus, and the stapes. They amplify the sound. The malleus receives vibration from the tympanic membrane and is attached to the incus. The incus connects between the malleus and the stapes. The stapes presses against the oval window of the cochlea on the other end.
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Why can't the acoustic reflex help protect the ear from abrupt loud sounds, such as gun fire?
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The acoustic reflex is a reflex that protects the ear from intense sounds, by the contraction of the stapedius and tensor tympani muscles. However, this reflex follows the onset of loud sounds by about one-fifth of a second, so it cannot protect against abrupt loud sounds.
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What is the function of the cochlea?
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The cochlea is a spiral structure of the inner ear containing the organ of Corti, which is responsible for transducing mechanical movement into neural activity.
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Describe how the release of neurotransmitters results from the deflection of stereocilia.
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When vibration causes a displacement along the cochlear partition, the tectorial membrane and hair cells move in opposite directions (shear) and the deflection of stereocilia in this action results in the release of neurotransmitters .
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How is place code related to tuning?
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Place code is the tuning of different parts of the cochlea to different frequencies, in which information about the particular frequency of an incoming sound wave is coded by the place along the cochlear partition with the greatest mechanical displacement.
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How are inner hair cells different from outer hair cells?
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Inner hair cells convey almost all the information about sound waves to the brain. Outer hair cells, on the other hand, convey information from the brain as part of a feedback system.
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What is the threshold tuning curve?
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The threshold tuning curve is a map plotting the thresholds of a neuron or fiber in response to sine waves with varying frequencies at the lowest intensity that will give rise to a response.
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What happens during two-tone suppression?
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Two-tone suppression is a decrease in the firing rate of one auditory nerve fiber due to one tone, when a second tone is presented at the same time.
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What does an isointensity curve show us?
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An isointensity curve is a map plotting the firing rates of an auditory nerve fiber against varying frequencies at varying intensities.
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What is rate saturation?
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Rate saturation is the point at which a nerve fiber is firing as rapidly as possible and further stimulation is incapable of increasing the firing rate.
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Why does phase locking occur?
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Phase locking may occur because AN fibers fire when the sterocilia of hair cells move in one direction (e.g. as the basilar membrane moves up toward the tectorial membrane), but they do not fire when the stereocilia move in the other direction.
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Describe the volley principle.
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The volley principle is an idea stating that multiple neurons can provide a temporal code for frequency if each neuron fires at a distinct point in the period of a sound wave but does not fire on every period.
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What kind of organization exists in the primary auditory cortex (A1)?
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The primary auditory cortex is organized in a tonotopic way. This is an arrangement in which neurons that respond to different frequencies are organized anatomically in order of frequency.
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What is psychoacoustics?
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Psychoacoustics is the study of the psychological correlates of the physical dimensions of acoustics; a branch of psychophysics.
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What is the audibility threshold?
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It is a map of just barely audible tones of varying frequencies.
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What is white noise and when is it used?
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White noise is noise consisting of all audible frequencies in equal amounts. White noise in hearing is analogous to white light in vision, for which all wavelengths are present. It is used in masking experiments investigating frequency selectivity.
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Describe two kinds of hearing loss.
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1) conductive hearing loss, which is caused by problems with the bones of the middle ear. This can be remedied by surgery. 2) Otitis media, which is the inflammation of the middle ear, commonly in children as a result of infection
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