PSYCH 1XX3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Auditory Cortex, Basilar Membrane, Oval Window
Document Summary
Well, the same principle applies with our auditory sense, only it is called a tonotopic organization. Recall that frequency is coded along different regions of the basilar membrane because sounds of different frequencies displace the hair cells in these different regions. The hair cells connect to the cochlear nerve such that neighbouring regions of hair cells remain together, and this organization is maintained all the way through the auditory pathway to the primary auditory cortex. With this type of organization, information about similar frequencies is processed together. In addition to being able to identify what the source of a sound is, we are also able to localize where a sound is coming from in space through auditory localization. Like the depth perception component of visual localization, our skills in auditory localization rely on the fact that our sense organs are separated in space. The process is a little different from visual localization.
