hearing, smell, pain

Audition

Audition

The sense or act of hearing.

Transduce

To convert one form of energy into another; in hearing, it refers to converting sound waves into neural messages.

Frequency

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time.

Amplitude

The height of sound waves, which determines their loudness.

Decibel

The unit of measurement for the intensity of sound.

Cochlea

A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses.

Place Theory

The theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated.

Frequency Theory

The theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch.

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness.

Conduction Hearing Loss

Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea.

Cochlear Implant

A device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea.

The Auditory Cortex

The area of the temporal lobe that processes auditory information.

Hair Cells

Sensory cells in the cochlea that convert sound vibrations into neural impulses.

Basilar Membrane

A membrane in the cochlea that vibrates in response to sound waves, stimulating hair cells.

Tinnitus

A ringing or buzzing noise in one or both ears that may accompany hearing loss.

Kinesthesis

The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts.

Vestibular Sense

The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance.

Phantom Limb Sensations

Sensations that feel as if they are coming from a missing limb, often experienced by amputees. Brain can misinterpret spontaneous CNS activity that occur in absence of normal sensory input.

McGurk Effect

A perceptual phenomenon that demonstrates the interaction between hearing and vision, where conflicting audiovisual information leads to a third perceived sound.

Synaesthesia

A condition where stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory pathway.

Pressure Waves

The air pressure changes that we experience as sound.

Sound Localization

The ability to determine the location of a sound based on hearing differences between the two ears.

Stereophonic Hearing

Three-dimensional hearing that allows us to locate sounds based on slight differences in the time and intensity of sounds heard by each ear.

Neural Messages

Electrical signals sent to the brain that represent sensory information.

Auditory Nerve

The nerve that carries signals from the hair cells in the cochlea to the auditory cortex.

Hearing Loss

A partial or total inability to hear, which can be due to various factors including age, noise exposure, and damage to the ear structure.

Loudness Perception

The perception of how loud or soft a sound is, influenced by the amplitude of sound waves.

Olfactory Receptors

The cells in the nasal cavity that detect odor molecules in the air.

Taste Buds

The sensory receptors on the tongue responsible for the sense of taste.

Chemical Senses

Senses that involve the detection of chemical stimuli, such as taste and smell.

Sensory Interaction

The principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste.

Vibration

The oscillation of air molecules that creates sound waves.

Noise Pollution

Unwanted or harmful noise that disrupts normal activities and can have adverse health effects.

Auditory Processing

The brain's interpretation of sound signals received from the ears.

Visual-Vestibular Interactions

The relationship between visual signals and the vestibular system that helps maintain balance.

Ear Canal

The tube through which sound waves travel to the eardrum.

Eardrum

A membrane that vibrates in response to sound waves in the ear canal.

Middle Ear

The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones that transmit vibrations.

Outer Ear

The visible part of the ear that channels sound waves into the ear canal.

Neural Message Pathway

Neural messages from hair cells travel via the thalamus to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe.

Place Theory in Hearing

The theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated. High-pitched sounds.

Frequency Theory in Hearing

The theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch. Low-pitched sounds.

Volley Principle

A theory that explains how neural cells can alternate firing, enabling them to achieve a combined frequency above 1000 times per second, similar to how soldiers alternate firing to allow some to reload.

Digital Hearing Aids

Devices that improve hearing by amplifying vibrations for frequencies where hearing is weakest, usually high frequencies, and by compressing sound to amplify soft sounds while not amplifying loud sounds.

cochlea, semicircular canals, vestibular sacs

parts of the inner ear

Cochlea

A spiral-shaped structure in the inner ear that converts sound vibrations into neural messages.

Semicircular Canals

Three looped structures in the inner ear that help maintain balance and sense spatial orientation.

Vestibular Sacs

Structures in the inner ear that provide information about the position of the head and contribute to balance.

Parallel Processing in Sound Localization

Using parallel processing, the brain analyzes the minute differences in the sounds received by the two ears and computes the source of the sound.

pressure, warmth, cold, and pain.

What are the distinct skin senses that make up our sense of touch?

Gate-Control Theory

The theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological 'gate' that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The 'gate' is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain.

pressure

What sense has identifiable receptors?

Umami

The fifth taste sensation known as the meaty taste, best experienced as the flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate.

chemical sense

What is taste classified as?

taste receptor cells

project antennalike hairs into the pore of the taste bud to sense food chemicals

The response triggered by taste receptors.

What alerts the temporal lobe when taste is detected?

Somatosensory Cortex

The part of the brain that processes sensory input from the body, particularly touch signals.

receptor cells

send messages to the brain's olfactory bulb, and then onward to the temporal lobe’s primary smell cortex and to the parts of the limbic system involved in memory and emotion

We detect different odors through a combination of approximately 350 receptor proteins embedded on the surface of nasal cavity neurons. Each odor molecule slips into these receptors, triggering different combinations that the olfactory cortex interprets, allowing us to distinguish up to 10,000 different odors.

How do we detect different odors?

Semicircular Canals

Three looped structures in the inner ear that help maintain balance and sense spatial orientation; they look like a three-dimensional pretzel.

Vestibular Sacs

Structures that connect the semicircular canals to the cochlea, containing fluid that moves with head rotation and tilting.

Hairlike Receptors

Receptors in the semicircular canals that are stimulated by fluid movement when the head rotates or tilts, sending messages to the cerebellum.

Cerebellum

The part of the brain located at the back that processes information about body position and helps maintain balance.