The Ear

Question	Answer
What are sounds?	vibrations in the air
What is the outside of the ear called?	Auricle
What path do sound vibrations follow to get to into the ear and then cause us to hear the sound?	Down the auditory canal, hits the tympanic membrain causing the ossicles to move. These then move the membrain of the oval window which causes movement to be transferred to the perilymph which then causes movement of the basilar membrain which in turn causes movements to the hair cells. Mechanoreceptors in the hair cells open causing action potentials to be generated and sent down the cochlear nerve.
What are the three ossicles called?	Malleus, Incus and the stapes
Why do we need the ossicle bones?	They allow the transfer of the vibrations in the air to be translated into vibrations on the oval window and therefore transfer these vibrations in the perilymph. without them the signal would be too weak to displace the perilymph and no vibrations would be picked up.
What is pitch placement theory?	The way we head different pitches at different points along the cochlea so we can determine what pitch they are by where the neural impulses come from.

Resource summary

	Created by alexlpeart over 11 years ago