Quadrant II – Transcript and Related Materials

Programme: Bachelor of Arts

Notes
Structure and Function of the Ear
The ear is a series of structures, each of which plays a part in the sense of
hearing. The ear is a sensitive sensory instrument that transduces sound waves
into neural impulses to the brain. It is composed of three major sections: the
outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear.
THE OUTER EAR: - The pinna is the visible, external part of the ear that serves as
a kind of concentrator, funneling the sound waves from the outside into the
structure of the ear. The pinna is also the entrance to the auditory canal (or ear
canal), the short tunnel that runs down to the tympanic membrane, or eardrum.
When sound waves hit the eardrum, they cause three tiny bones in the middle
ear to vibrate. Outer Ear. The external part of the ear, or pinna, which we think
of as the “ear,” is useful as a sound collector and is helpful in locating the origins
of sounds. The shape of the pinna is especially important in sound localization,
as shown by the fact that temporarily smoothing the pinna with putty impairs
sound localization. Connecting the outer ear and the middle ear is the hollow
external auditory canal. It’s the part that gets waxy and the part through which
sound waves reach the eardrum (also known as the tympanic membrane), the
first structure of the middle ear.
THE MIDDLE EAR: - HAMMER, ANVIL, AND STIRRUP The three tiny bones in the
middle ear are known as the hammer (malleus), anvil (incus), and stirrup
(stapes), each name stemming from the shape of the respective bone. The
vibration of these three bones amplifies the vibrations from the eardrum. The
stirrup, the last bone in the chain, causes a membrane covering the opening of
the inner ear to vibrate. The outermost structure of the middle ear is a thin
membrane known as the eardrum, because it resembles the skin on a drum.
Sound waves in the air cause the eardrum to vibrate. The vibrating eardrum
passes the vibration on to a series of three movable, interconnected bones: the
hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup, so named because of their shapes. These
middle-ear structures amplify the vibrations and pass them on to the inner ear.
THE INNER EAR: - This membrane is called the oval window, and its vibrations
set off another chain reaction within the inner ear.
Cochlea: - The inner ear is a snail-shaped structure called the cochlea, which is
filled with fluid. When the oval window vibrates, it causes the fluid in the cochlea
to vibrate. This fluid surrounds a membrane running through the middle of the
cochlea called the basilar membrane.
Basilar Membrane and the Organ of Corti:- The basilar membrane is the resting
place of the organ of Corti, which contains the receptor cells for the sense of
hearing. When the basilar membrane vibrates, it vibrates the organ of Corti,
causing it to brush against a membrane above it. On the organ of Corti are
special cells called hair cells, which are the receptors for sound. When these
auditory receptors or hair cells are bent up against the other membrane, it
causes them to send a neural message through the auditory nerve (which
contains the axons of all the receptor neurons) and into the brain, where the
auditory cortex will interpret the sounds (the transformation of the vibrations
of sound into neural messages is transduction). The louder the sound in the
outside world, the stronger the vibrations that stimulate more of those hair
cells—which the brain interprets as loudness.
The vibrating stirrup shakes another eardrum-like structure called the oval
window into motion. This membrane is at the end of a long, curled structure
called the cochlea, which is filled with fluid. The vibrating oval window creates
waves in the fluid of the cochlea. The cochlea contains two long tubes that
double back on themselves and are connected only at the tip end of the spiral.
The pressure of the vibrating waves is relieved by a third eardrum-like
membrane at the other end of the cochlea called the round window. Running
almost the entire length of the cochlea are several layers of membranes that
separate the two tubes. The lower membrane, called the basilar membrane,
forms a floor on which the ear’s sensory receptors sit. Hairlike receptor cells are
contained in the organ of Corti. Vibrations in the cochlear fluid set the basilar
membrane in motion. This movement, in turn, moves the organ of Corti and
stimulates the hair cells it contains. These receptors transduce the sound waves
in the cochlear fluid into coded neural impulses sent to the brain. The hair cells
are sensitive to loud noises and aging. When they die, hearing declines. To date,
there is no medical treatment for restoring them. How does the organ of Corti
code neural messages for the brain? The intensity of a sound wave is coded by
the number of receptors in the organ of Corti that fire. Low intensity sounds
stimulate only a few receptors; high-intensity sounds stimulate many receptors.
The frequency of the sound wave is apparently coded in at least two ways. First,
sound waves of various frequencies stimulate receptor cells at different places
along the organ of Corti. Higher-frequency waves stimulate the organ of Corti
close to the oval window; lower-frequency waves stimulate it farther along the
cochlea (except for very low frequencies). Second, the frequency of the sound
waves is duplicated to some extent in the frequency of the signals sent to the
brain by the auditory receptors. Only at lower frequencies is each neuron able
to signal at the same frequency as the sound wave. At higher frequencies, the
coding of frequency is achieved by volleys of neural impulses by different groups
of neurons, which reflect the frequency of the sound wave.
Not all sounds travel this complete route from outer ear to cochlea. Some
sounds are transmitted through the bones of the head directly to the cochlear
fluid. We hear ourselves speak (and eat) largely through bone conduction
hearing. This is an important consideration in diagnosing hearing problems.
People who have suffered damage to the hearing apparatus of the middle ear
can hear bone-conducted sounds fairly well, but not airborne sounds. People
with damage to the auditory nerve—nerve deafness—have difficulty hearing
either type of sound. One more thing about ears deserves mentioning. Ever
wonder why people have two of them? For one thing, having a pair of ears gives
us a spare in case something goes wrong with one, but the fact that we have
two ears also serves an important function in locating the origin of sounds. The
ears locate sounds in two ways. First, when a sound wave is coming from straight
ahead or from straight behind us, the sound reaches both ears simultaneously.
When a sound is coming from the sides or from an angle, it reaches each ear at
a slightly different time. The ears are sensitive enough to this difference that
they allow us to locate the direction of sounds, especially high-frequency
sounds. The reason you know that the person to the left of you is blowing her
nose again is because your left ear hears it before your right ear does. Second,
cues for the location of high-frequency sounds are also produced by the fact that
your head dampens some of the sound reaching the more distant ear, creating
a difference in the intensity of the sound waves that reach each of the ears.

References
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3. Lahey, B. (2008). Psychology: An Introduction. (10th Ed.). Tata Mc Graw