PSYCH 1000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5.3-5.4: Basilar Membrane, Semicircular Canals, Oval Window
Document Summary
5. 3 how are we able to hear: audition: hearing; the sense of sound perception. Audition results from changes in air pressure: the process of hearing begins when movement and vibrations of objects cause the displacement of air molecules, which produces a change in air pressure; the change travels through the air. Sound waves make the eardrum vibrate; vibrations are transferred to the ossicles, three tiny bones commonly called the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. The oval window"s vibrations create pressure in the cochlear fluid; these waves prompt the basilar membrane to oscillate. Movement of the basilar membrane stimulates hair cells to bend and to send information to the auditory nerve. Hair cells are the primary auditory receptors: sound waves, mechanical signals, hit the eardrum and are converted to neural signals that travel to the brain along the auditory nerve. A sound wave"s amplitude determines its loudness; a higher amplitude generates a louder sound.
