PSYA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4.3: Institute For Operations Research And The Management Sciences, Hair Cell, Stapes
Document Summary
Function of ear is to gather sound waves. Hearing extract some sort of meaning from those sound waves which informs you about the nature of the sound or source. Human ear function is to detect sound waves and transform info into neural signals. Sound waves changes in mechanical pressure transmitted through solids, liquids or gases. Have 2 main characteristics: frequency refers to wavelength and is measured in hertz (hz), the number of cycles a sound wave travels per second. Pitch perceptual experience of sound wave frequencies. High-frequency sounds such as tires screeching have short wavelengths and high pitch. Low frequency sounds such as bass guitar have long wavelengths and low pitch: amplitude determines the loudness of a sound wave. High-amplitude sound waves are louder than low amplitude waves. Humans can detect sound in the frequency range 20 hz to 20 000 hz. Loudness function of sound wave amplitude is expressed in units called decibels (db)
