Peripheral Auditory System MEDS 371 Peripheral Auditory System Dr. Duck O. Kim
SPL: sound pressure level dB SPL = 20 log10 (pressure/ref) dB: decibel SPL: sound pressure level dB SPL = 20 log10 (pressure/ref) ref = 20 mPa
dB SPL re 20 µPa frequency (Hz) Davis & Silverman, 1970 threshold of hearing frequency (Hz) audible freq. range for humans: approx. 20 ~ 20,000 Hz
Purves Fig 13.3
tensor tympani - malleus the middle ear middle-ear muscles: tensor tympani - malleus stapedius - stapes Pickles, 1988 Impedance transformation Pickles, 1988
Bekesy, 1960 external ear middle ear inner ear
data from human cadavers origin of tonotopic organization bas. mem. disp. amplitude origin of tonotopic organization Bekesy, 1960 distance from stapes (mm)
cochlea temporal bone SV ST Pickles, 1988
inner ear
Purves
fluid in ST & SV: perilymph (like CSF) fluid in SM: endolymph (high K+)
organ of Corti SV ST SM BM TM RM Smith, 1975
* * inner hair cell outer hair cell afferent Smith, 1975 afferent efferent nerve fibers afferent ending * afferent efferent nerve ending fibers Smith, 1975
tip-link model of hair-cell excitation Pickles, 1984
Purves, Fig 12-8; adapted from Lewis & Hudspeth, 1983
Purves Fig 13-6
frequency tuning curves threshold (dB SPL) frequency (kHz) basilar membrane cochlear neuron Sellick et al, 1982 Neely & Kim, 1983
frequency tuning curves of cochlear ganglion neurons OHC damage normal threshold (dB SPL) Robertson & Johnstone, 1979 frequency (kHz)
OHC motilities underlie the cochlear amplifier. HB motility somatic Neely and Kim, 1983 Brownelle et al., 1985 Kim, 1986 Hudspeth, 1997
innervation of IHCs and OHCs by cochlear ganglion neurons adapted from Spoendlin, 1972
Auditory nerve fibers exhibit phase locking for low stimulus frequencies (< a few kilohertz). stimulus: 300 Hz pure tone Evans, 1975
Phase locking of auditory nerve fibers lead to neural coding of inter-aural time difference (ITD), a cue for sound location. Phase locking may also contribute to coding of sound frequency.
two codes of frequency in auditory nerve fibers val
code of sound intensity increase of sound intensity -> (1) increase of discharge rates of auditory nerve fibers (with low spontaneous rates); (2) increase of number of excited auditory nerve fibers discharge rate (spikes/s) Kim et al., 1991 distance along cochlea
hearing loss examples_____ conductive hearing loss otosclerosis otitis media impaction of ear canal sensorineural hearing loss acoustic trauma ototoxic drugs Meniere’s disease mixed hearing loss presbycusis
Purves Box 13-C