Table of Contents
What is the cochlea and what is its function?
The cochlea (auditory inner ear) transforms the sound in neural message. The function of the cochlea is to transform the vibrations of the cochlear liquids and associated structures into a neural signal.
What is the cochlear?
The cochlea is a hollow, spiral-shaped bone found in the inner ear that plays a key role in the sense of hearing and participates in the process of auditory transduction. Sound waves are transduced into electrical impulses that the brain can interpret as individual frequencies of sound.
What is Tonotopic organization?
Tonotopic organization means that cells responsive to different frequencies are found in different places at each level of the central auditory system, and that there is a standard (logarithmic) relationship between this position and frequency. Each cell has a characteristic frequency (CF).
What is the function of co Chlea in the internal ear?
The cochlea is the auditory area of the inner ear that changes sound waves into nerve signals. Semicircular canals. The semicircular canals sense balance and posture to assist in equilibrium.
How does a cochlea work?
The cochlea is filled with a fluid that moves in response to the vibrations from the oval window. These nerve endings transform the vibrations into electrical impulses that then travel along the eighth cranial nerve (auditory nerve) to the brain. The brain then interprets these signals, and this is how we hear.
What is the organ of Corti?
The Organ of Corti is an organ of the inner ear located within the cochlea which contributes to audition. The Organ of Corti includes three rows of outer hair cells and one row of inner hair cells. Vibrations caused by sound waves bend the stereocilia on these hair cells via an electromechanical force.
What is cochlear abnormality?
Cochlear Damage means that all or part of your inner ear has been hurt. Damage to the cochlea typically causes permanent hearing loss. This is called sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Noise-induced hearing loss, or NIHL, occurs when your ears are exposed to overly loud sounds.
What happens in the cochlea?
The outer ear consists of the pinna (also called the auricle), ear canal and eardrum. The middle ear is a small, air-filled space containing three tiny bones called the malleus, incus and stapes but collectively called the ossicles.
Why is tonotopic mapping important?
Tonotopic position determines the structure of hair bundles in the cochlea. The height of hair bundles increases from base to apex and the number of stereocilia decreases (i.e. hair cells located at the base of the cochlea contain more stereo cilia than those located at the apex).
Why is tonotopic organization important?
The experiments demonstrate that tonotopic representation is crucial to complex pitch perception and provide a new tool in the search for the neural basis of pitch. Temporal models of pitch perception are attractive for at least two reasons.
What does the cochlea spirals around?
The cochlea contains the sensory organ of hearing. The spiral ganglion cells of the cochlear nerve are found in a bony spiral canal winding around the central core. A thin bony shelf, the osseous spiral lamina, winds around the modiolus like the thread of a screw.
Does the basilar membrane move?
When a sound wave is transmitted to the fluid of the inner ear, the basilar membrane is set in motion. Basilar membrane motion is best described as a traveling wave of deformation, which begins at the cochlear base and moves apically toward a frequency-dependent place of maximal amplitude (Fig. 4).