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How Do We Hear

Sound waves enter the ear and cause the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are transmitted through the middle ear bones to the cochlea, where they cause the hair cells to bend, triggering nerve impulses. The auditory nerve then sends these impulses to the auditory cortex of the brain, which interprets them as sound. There are two types of hearing loss - sensorineural, which damages the hair cells of the cochlea, and conduction, which damages the mechanical system conducting sound waves. The document discusses the process of hearing from sound waves to signal interpretation in the brain.

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66 views11 pages

How Do We Hear

Sound waves enter the ear and cause the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are transmitted through the middle ear bones to the cochlea, where they cause the hair cells to bend, triggering nerve impulses. The auditory nerve then sends these impulses to the auditory cortex of the brain, which interprets them as sound. There are two types of hearing loss - sensorineural, which damages the hair cells of the cochlea, and conduction, which damages the mechanical system conducting sound waves. The document discusses the process of hearing from sound waves to signal interpretation in the brain.

Uploaded by

paulbang91
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How do we hear?

By: Paul Bang

Sound Waves

Auditory Cortex

Eardrum

Hearing Loss

Middle Ear

References

Cochlea
Hair Cells
Auditory Nerve

What are Sound Waves?


Sound waves cannot be seen by our eyes
but it lets us hear how loud, high or low
the sounds we hear are!
Short wavelength = high frequency (high
pitched sounds)
Long wave length = low frequency (low
pitched sounds)
Great amplitude = loud sounds
Small amplitudes = soft sounds

The Eardrum
Did you know when sound waves
get to the eardrum, your
eardrums vibrate?!
The eardrum is inside your ear and
plays a very important for you to
hear sounds and listen to music!

The Middle Ear


The middle ear is the area between
the eardrum and the cochlea
containing three tiny bones; the
hammer, anvil, and stirrup.
These tiny bones picks up
vibrations and transmits them to
the cochlea.

Cochlear
Sound waves travel through the cochlear which
triggers nerve impulses.
The vibration causes ripples in the basilar
membrane, bending the hair cells lining its
surface.
The snail shaped tube located
in the inner ear.

Hair Cells

The cochlea has 16,000 hair cells

Because of the special protein at the tip of


the cell triggers a neural response and
thanks to their extreme sensitivity and
speed, hair cells are very responsive.

Auditory Nerve
The impulses that are received from the hair
cells are transmitted to the auditory nerve.
The auditory nerve sends neural messages
(via the thalamus) to the auditory cortex
which is in the brains temporal lobe.

Auditory Cortex
The auditory cortex, which is
located in the brains temporal lobe,
is where we process the sounds that
we hear!
Temporal lobe which is located
at the lower lobe of the
cerebral hemisphere.

This part of the brain is what


interprets all our hearing.

Hearing Loss
There are two types of hearing loss but the most common
is sensorineural hearing loss.
The culprit to hearing loss is the damage of the hair cells
in the cochlea.
Sensorineural Hearing Loss:
The damage to the cochleas hair cell receptors can cause
sensorineural hearing loss (or nerve deafness).
Diseases can cause these receptors to be damaged but
more often the culprits are biological changes linked with
heredity, aging, and prolonged exposure to ear-splitting
noise or music.

Conduction Hearing Loss:


Less common form of hearing loss caused by damage to
the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the
cochlea.

References
All information was received
from:
Myers, D.G. (2015). Psychology
(11th ed.). New York, NY: Worth
Publishers.

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