SLHS 4600 - Hearing Sciences

Unit 1: Module 1: Introduction to Hearing Sciences

The Acoustic Wheel - how the study of sound is broken down and understood by diagram

• the core of the wheel is titled “fundamental physical acoustics” and from the core, the wheel branches into engineering (hear aids), arts (music), earth sciences (how sound moves through fluid and atmosphere), and life sciences (psychology, physiology, psychoacoustics, etc.). All of these subfields are included on the wheel because the study of sound is a multi-faceted study and is involved in various aspects of humanity.

• the pioneer in the study of sound (acoustics) was Pythagoras - he used math to explain why certain sounds were pleasing or unpleasing to the human ear and mind

  • Consonance vs. dissonance: consonance is a pleasing sound - dissonance is a harsh or displeasing sound

• other early contributors to the study of sound (acoustics) are…

  • Eustachio: an italian anatomist that founded the eustachian tube (a structure in the inner ear)

  • Versalius: flemish anatomist, physician, and author who wrote “the Frabic of the Human Body” and founded anatomy as we know it (disproved the idea of the four humors)

  • Falloppio: italian anatomist who detailed the tympanic membrane

  • Du Verney: founded otology (study of the EAR) and discovered that sound perception occurs in the cochlea

  • Von Helmholtz: philosopher and physician that founded psychoacoustics

  • Von Bekesy: closely studied the cochlea, developed the otometer (measurement of sound), and won a nobel prize