Neurobio Chapter 13 Auditory System

A human's perception of pitch corresponds to the _______ of a sound wave; perception of loudness corresponds to the _______ of a sound wave.

Frequency; amplitude

A father notices that his daughter does not respond to him when she isn't facing him, nor does she turn her head . What type of hearing loss

Sensorineural, cochlear implant

Which frequency would be detected by a 23-year-old female with normal hearing, but not heard by a 72 year old man with normal hearing

20kHz

Which structure is not part of the external ear?

cochlea

Hearing loss in the range of _______ is most detrimental to speech recognition.

2-5kHz

Which structures connect adjacent stereocilia

Tip links

A studnet who si working on a cure hearing loss develops a hair cell MET channel agonist. Would you expect this drug to be effective?

No; MET channel can only be altered by mechanical means

Which of the following is responsible for the biphasic receptor potential of hair cells?

Transduction channels that are open at rest

How does ionic composition of endolymph differ from most extracellular fluids?

It is K+ rich and Na+ poor

In the inner ear, evidence suggests that the __ is an essential component of the cochlear amplifier

Outer hair cells

A scientist studying auditory transmission of low frequencies would take a recording from nerves at the ___ of the cochlea and look for ___ firing in response to a stimulus

apex; phase locked

Which of the following could a human ear transduce most optimally?

A conversation

In order to increase the decibel measurement of a sound, one would have to alter its wave

amplitude

Which statement about the audible spectrum is false?

Collectively, mammals can only hear tones at frequencies ranging from 20 to 20k Hz

Which function is not an operation of the outer ear?

Directing different frequencies of sound to specific cochlear locations

Which action is the primary function of the three bones in the middle ear?

Amplification of sound pressure waves to increase auditory sensitivity

What quality gives rise to tonotopy along the cochlea?

The changing width and stiffness of the basilar membrane

Which statement about sensory transduction by hair cells is false?

The electrical activity initiated by the tip links is transmitted to the vesicular release sites along microtublues that undergo voltage dependent rearrangements

Research into the biology of those stem cells that generate cochlear hair cells during development could be valuable because

All of the above

Which ion and direction of flow is responsible for depolarization of inner hair cells?

Potassium into the cell

In which way is the mechanism of hair-cell transduction distinct from sensory transduction mechanisms that occur outside the ear?

All of the above

What is the difference between the endolymph and perilymph?

Endolymph is high in potassium and low in sodium; perilymph is high in sodium and low in potassium

Which statement about auditory nerve fibers is false?

The lower frequency fibers have a sharp tuning peak plus a separate extended hump

If efferent axons that travel between the brainstem and cochlea are damaged, leaving the afferent axons intact, which structures would not function properly?

Outer hair cells

Which auditory property most depends upon the utilization of bilateral auditory information

Sound Localization