NROC64H3 Chapter 11: CHAPTER 11 pt 1
Document Summary
The sense of hearing is known as audition and the sense of balance is regulated by the vestibular system. When an object moves toward a patch of air, it compresses the air, increasing the density of the molecules. The air is rarefied when an object moves away on the other hand (see fig. The speed of sound is about 343 m/sec (767 mph) for air at room temperature. Frequency of sound is the number of compressed or rarefied patches of air that pass by our ears each second. One cycle of the sound is the distance between successive compressed patches and it is expressed in hertz (hz). Sound waves all propagate at the same speed so high frequency sound waves have more compressed and rarefied regions packed into the same space than low-frequency waves (see fig. Our auditory system can respond to pressure waves between 20 hz to 20 000 hz.
