Free Response
Free Response
When the dog first barks it creates sound waves that travel through the air, spreading out and dissipating as they go, until they reach the ear of the musician. When the sound waves reach the musician they are “gathered up” into the ear by the oracle and travel into the middle ear. Once in the middle ear the sound waves vibrate the ear drum which transfers the vibrations to the hammer. The hammer then moves the vibrations on to the anvil which transfers them to the stirrup.
From the stirrup the vibration transfers to the cochlea in the inner ear. The vibrations cause the cochlea to vibrate moving the fluid that fills the tube. This motion causes ripples that in turn bend the hair cells lining the surface of the basilar membrane. This causes impulses in the nerve cells that form the auditory nerve which sends the impulses to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe.
If we were applying Hermann von Helmholtz’s pitch theory we would reason that the bark came in and registered on a part of the cochlea that that corresponds to that pitch. The cochlea then transfers that information to the brain which interprets it as sound. However if we were to apply frequency theory we would have to argue that the brain “reads’ the pitch by sensing the frequency of the impulses that travel up the auditory nerve. The whole basilar membrane would then vibrate with the sound wave, which would trigger neural impulses traveling at the same rate as the sound wave.
The musician was able to tell that the dog was barking from his left without seeing the dog, but how? When sound emanates from a source and travels to our ear it reaches one slightly before the other. With sounds traveling at 750 miles per hour and ears generally being only six inches apart the lag time between the two ears is very minute, but our auditory system is sensitive enough to pick up on the difference. He could also tell that the sound came from his left by the intensity of the sound.
When the dog first barks it creates sound waves that travel through the air, spreading out and dissipating as they go, until they reach the ear of the musician. When the sound waves reach the musician they are “gathered up” into the ear by the oracle and travel into the middle ear. Once in the middle ear the sound waves vibrate the ear drum which transfers the vibrations to the hammer. The hammer then moves the vibrations on to the anvil which transfers them to the stirrup.
From the stirrup the vibration transfers to the cochlea in the inner ear. The vibrations cause the cochlea to vibrate moving the fluid that fills the tube. This motion causes ripples that in turn bend the hair cells lining the surface of the basilar membrane. This causes impulses in the nerve cells that form the auditory nerve which sends the impulses to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe.
If we were applying Hermann von Helmholtz’s pitch theory we would reason that the bark came in and registered on a part of the cochlea that that corresponds to that pitch. The cochlea then transfers that information to the brain which interprets it as sound. However if we were to apply frequency theory we would have to argue that the brain “reads’ the pitch by sensing the frequency of the impulses that travel up the auditory nerve. The whole basilar membrane would then vibrate with the sound wave, which would trigger neural impulses traveling at the same rate as the sound wave.
The musician was able to tell that the dog was barking from his left without seeing the dog, but how? When sound emanates from a source and travels to our ear it reaches one slightly before the other. With sounds traveling at 750 miles per hour and ears generally being only six inches apart the lag time between the two ears is very minute, but our auditory system is sensitive enough to pick up on the difference. He could also tell that the sound came from his left by the intensity of the sound.