THE HEARING BRAIN (exam 3)

what stimulus leads to sound

vibrations in air pressure create sound waves

components of sound

pure tones pitch loudness, frequency and timbre

anatomy of the ear

outer ear includes the pinna and auditory canal middle ear contains ossicles inner ear contains the cochlea

middle ear bones

malleus incus and stapes transmit vibrations from the eardrum to the inner ear

cochlea and basilar membrane

spiral fluid filled structure where vibrations move the basilar membrane and stimulate hair cells

hair cells

sensory receptors that convert mechanical vibrations into neural signals

auditory pathway

cochlea to auditory nerve to cochlear nucleus to superior olivary complex to inferior colliculus to medial geniculate nucleus to primary auditory cortex

sound representation in cortex

tonotopic organization where different frequencies are represented in different cortical locations

auditory dorsal and ventral pathways

dorsal pathway processes where sounds are located ventral pathway processes what the sounds are

echolocation

determining sound location using timing and intensity differences between the ears and reflections of sound

sound localization features

interaural time differences interaural level differences and cues from the shape of the outer ear

mismatch negativity

brain response that occurs when a sound deviates from a repeating auditory pattern

brain areas for segregating sounds

auditory cortex and related temporal lobe areas separate different sound streams

what is a spectrogram

visual display of frequency amplitude and time components of sound

definition of a phoneme

smallest unit of sound that can change meaning in a language about forty four in english

international phonetic alphabet

standardized system of symbols representing speech sounds across languages

vowel vs consonant production

vowels are produced with an open vocal tract consonants involve constrictions or closures

visual influence on speech perception

seeing mouth movements can alter how speech sounds are perceived

mcgurk illusion

when conflicting visual and auditory speech signals cause a person to perceive a different sound than what is actually spoken