PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Eardrum, Ear Canal, Basilar Membrane

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jordan Poppenk

Document Summary

Sound is a wave that forms from vibration causing adjacent air molecules to become compressed into regions of increased pressure, and rarefied into regions of decreased pressure - these pressure changes travel in a way to our ears. Amplitude of the wave = intensity (loudness) Measured in db and is called the sound pressure level (spl) Number of periods between high and low pressure (measured in hz) Frequencies are anatomically separated and organized in the ear (tonotopic organization) - the brain knows which pitch has been heard based on the location of the nerve fibres that are stimulated (place codes) Allows us to distinguish the different qualities of instruments when playing the same note or recognize someone"s voice. Pinna/auricle: funnel shaped structure that leads to the ear canal and funnels sound in - sounds bounce off the pinnae depending on the direction in which it came from.