 The Nervous System,

Ear, Hearing and

Balance • It integrates countless pieces of
information and generates
• Nervous system is reactions by sending these
responsible for electrochemical impulses through
sending, receiving the nerves to trigger organs such
and processing nerve as muscles or glands.
impulses.
 • The nerve cells are called
neurons and the connection
between two neurons is the
synapse.
• All of the body’s • When a nerve impulse
muscles (electrical) travels across a
and organs rely upon the neuron to the synapse, it
nervous impulses to causes a release of chemicals
function. which carry the signal to the
next neuron.
• Thus messages are sent through the
nervous system by both electrical and
chemical means (electrochemical).
 o Central Nervous System (CNS)
• Three systems work o Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
together to carry out the o Autonomic (Vegetative) Nervous
mission of the nervous System (ANS)
system:
Central Nervous System
(CNS) the CNS is responsible for
issuing nerve impulses and
• Encased in analysing sensory data.
bone, • It consists of the brain and the
spinal cord.
 • Nerve pathways extend from
• The brain weighs the brain to virtually every
an average of 1.4 tissue and structure of the
kg and body.
comprises 97% of the
entire nervous system
 ….the body organs and muscles
 Peripheral Nervous
back to the CNS through sensory
System (PNS)
nerves.
• PNS is made up of a • It also is responsible for
series of specialized passing information from the
cells that both pass CNS directly to the organs and
information received muscles themselves through
from… motor nerves.
 • Reflex actions, such as quickly
withdrawing one’s hand from a
painful stimulus, will only involve a
• Thus it is not always loop between the hand and the
necessary for the spinal cord.
brain to be involved
• Because fewer neurones are
in the reaction to
involved, reflexes are rapid.
stimulus
 ….the involuntary muscles of
Autonomic
the internal organs and blood
(Vegetative) Nervous vessels.
System (ANS)
• Although the autonomous
• A special autonomic nerves have connections with
(independent) nervous the CNS,
system manages the we are not aware of the
glands of the body autonomic system working and
and… have no conscious control
over it.
• The two most
important of our
senses in aviation are
sight and hearing.
 • Firstly it is used to receive
vibrations in the air (sounds),
The Ear - Purpose
and secondly it acts as a
balance organ and
• The ear acceleration detector.
performs two
quite separate • The ear is divided into three
sections, the outer, middle, and
functions
inner ear
  Outer Ear
….through the auditory canal
• The outer ear directs (Meatus) and onto the eardrum.
sounds, • The sound waves will cause the
which are collected by ear drum to vibrate.
the pinna,…
 • Connected to the ear drum is a
 The Middle Ear linkage of three small bones the
ossicles (the malleus, incus and
• The ear drum or stapes) which transmit the vibrations
tympanum, across the middle ear,
separates the outer and (filled with air) to the inner ear which
middle ear. is filled with liquid.
 ….where a diaphragm sets in
motion the fluid of the cochlea
of the inner ear.
• The last of the bones • The eustachian tube vents
(the stapes) is to the mouth and nose
attached to the oval allowing pressure to
window of the inner equalize across the ear
ear… drum.
 • Inside the cochlea there is a
 The Inner Ear fine membrane covered with
tiny hair-like cells.
• The diaphragm • The movement of these small
attached to the stapes cells will be dependent on the
causes the fluid in the volume and pitch of the
cochlea to vibrate. original sound.
 …which leads directly to the cortex of
• The amount and the brain where the tiny electrical
frequency of currents are decoded into sound
displacement is detected patterns.
by the auditory nerve….
 ….for the transmission of sound to
pass through the bone.
• It is possible for
hearing also to bypass • This is because the cochlea is
the ear drum and embedded in a bony cavity within
ossicular system the temporal bone.
and…
 • Therefore,
under certain conditions, a tuning
• Vibrations of the
fork or vibration device placed on
entire skull can cause
the skull causes the person to hear
fluid vibrations in the
the note/sound.
cochlea itself.
 • Sound range depends, to a great
extent, on intensity (which is
• A young person can measured in decibels).
hear frequency • Sound intensities are expressed in
between 20 and 20000 terms of the logarithm of the
Hertz. actual intensities.
  Hearing
Impairment o Conductive Deafness
• Hearing difficulties o Noise Induced Hearing Loss
are broadly (NIHL)
classified into three o Presbycusis (Loss through Ageing)
categories:
  Conductive will result in a degradation of
Deafness hearing.

• Any damage to the • It is possible that perforations of

conducting system, the ear drum will result in
scarring of the tissue thus
the ossicles or the ear
reducing its ability to vibrate
drum,
freely.
 …again limiting the transfer of
vibrations.
• Modern surgery may help in some
• A blow to the ear may circumstances.
cause damage to the
small bones in the • Excessive wax or a tumour in the
middle ear… ear canal can also cause
conductive deafness.
 and the fine structures on this
membrane.
 Noise Induced • Intermittent and sudden noise is
Hearing Loss (NIHL) generally considered to be more
disruptive than continuous
• Loud noises can noise.
damage the very • The loss of hearing may at first
sensitive membrane be temporary but continued
in the cochlea… exposure to loud noise in
excess of 90 decibels (dB) will
result in permanent loss of
hearing.
 Presbycusis
(Loss through
Ageing)
• In old age, the frequency falls to
• Hearing between 50 and 8000 cycles per
deteriorates with second or less.
advancing age.
 The Ear and the ear is used to detect both
Balance angular/linear movement and
accelerations.
• A part from • Our primary source of spatial
distinguishing orientation is sight but the ear
sound, provides a secondary system,
particularly if vision is
restricted.
 Semicircular Canals
…and arranged in three planes at
• Within the inner ear 90º to each other.
are three • They detect angular accelerations
semicircular canals greater than 0.5°/sec².
filled with liquid….
 …which bend as the liquid in the
canals moves in relation to the
walls of the canals.
• Within the • The movement of these hairs
semicircular canals are generates small electric currents
fine hair-like cells… which are passed to the
cerebellum (the second smaller
division of the brain).
 • For example as you step onto an
escalator muscles will work to
push the body forward
• In fact the cerebellum instinctively to avoid losing
has the ability to balance.
predict the loss of • Thus the cerebellum has a major
balance and part to play in both balance and
compensate. coordination.
 located at the base of the
 Otoliths semicircular canals.
• Otoliths detect tilting of the
• The otoliths,
head and linear acceleration
literally ‘stones in the and are contained within
ears’ are small grains of chambers known as utricles and
chalk embedded in a saccules.
fleshy medium containing
hair cells,
 and this bending is interpreted by
the brain to determine the new
• Acceleration greater position of the head.
than 0.1 m/s² • This gives rise to a problem when
causes the hair cells a pilot experiences linear
to bend acceleration/deceleration.
 ….the head is tilting backwards.
• Thus the pilot feels that he/she is
climbing.
• The reverse takes place during
• As acceleration takes deceleration, giving the pilot the
place the otoliths are false impression of pitching down.
moved backwards
giving the signals to • This is known as the
the brain that… somatogravic effect or
somatogravic illusion.
 ….make up the vestibular
apparatus which helps to
maintain spatial orientation and
• The semicircular controls other functions.
canals and the • For example eye movement to
otoliths together… maintain a stable picture of the
world on the retina when the
head is moved.
 Problems of Balance
• It occurs when the vestibular
and Disorientation
apparatus is not always sufficiently
o Leans or Somatogyral reliable to maintain an accurate
Illusion model of orientation.
• Can persist for up to an hour after
the event causing it.
 • The pilot commences a very gentle
slow turn, so gentle that the
movement of the liquid is not
• The two most common enough to cause a detectable
circumstances under bending of the hair cells.
which the ‘leans’ may be • Therefore, although in a turn, the
experienced are: balance mechanism senses no
change has been made.
 …will be detected as a turn from the
straight and level by the balance
• A subsequent normal mechanism.
return to straight and • The aircraft is now, in reality
level flight,… straight and level, but the pilot feels
that he is still turning.

• The pilot executes a
prolonged turn to such an
extent as to allow the
hairs to erect in the canals
while still in the turn.
• This gives the pilot the
erroneous feeling that he/she
is straight and level.
• As the pilot rolls out, the
ends of the hairs move again
to give a false impression of a
turn when - in fact - the
aircraft is level.
 • If in IMC BELIEVE YOUR
INSTRUMENTS
• If in VMC LOOK OUT AT THE
HORIZON
 • The somatogyral illusion results
 Somatogyral and from the inability of the
Somatogravic Illusions semicircular canals to register
accurately a prolonged rotation
o Somatogyral Illusion (sustained angular velocity).
• If a turn is prolonged the
sensation of turning is gradually
diminished as the hairs in the
semicircular canals straighten.
 the pilot has the sensation of
turning in the opposite
direction as the hairs are again
displaced.

• If the turn is then • Thus a somatogyral illusion is

the sensation of turning in the
either decreased or
opposite direction that occurs
the aircraft
whenever the body undergoes
levelled,
angular deceleration from a
condition of sustained angular
velocity.
 …caused by the Somatogyral Illusion
and which may lead to disaster.
• The Graveyard • During a prolonged spin, the fluid
Spin” is a term used (endolymph) within the
to describe the result semicircular canals settles, thereby
of an incorrect allowing the sensing hairs to erect.
recovery from a
spin…
 the hairs of semicircular canals again
are moved, giving the pilot a strong
sensation of entering in a spin in the
• When a recovery opposite direction.
from the spin is • If he/she succumbs and reacts to
initiated (as in the this incorrect information, the pilot
case of a prolonged will re-enter the spin in the original
turn), direction.
 • On take-off this is exacerbated
by the resultant vector of the g-
 Somatogravic forces acting on the pilot and
Illusion. aircraft.
• Another illusion associated with
• The illusion of the vestibular apparatus is
pitching up or down as vertigo,
a result of the
a loss of spatial awareness, in
movement of the which the individual experiences a
Otoliths due to linear rotating, tumbling or turning
acceleration. sensation.
 o Blocked eustachian tubes.
o Sudden pressure changes in the
inner ear (sneezing or strong
blowing of the nose).
• This may be caused by
disease in the inner ear o Accelerations or high g-loadings.
but can occur in the o Drug-induced.
healthy individual in certain Alcohol intoxication provokes
circumstances which vertigo.
include:
 (greater than about 3° a second)
 Coriolis Effect of the head will be detected as a
change in the turn rate.
• If a steady turn is
being maintained then • This phenomenon is referred
a sudden movement to as a cross-coupled
stimulation of the semicircular
canals (coriolis effect).
 the visual reference will provide
the more accurate picture of
orientation.
• It cannot be
• Pilots are urged to always
overemphasized that
remember that the most
where there is a
important sense for spatial
conflict between the
orientation is sight.
two senses,
 • Alcohol in the fluid of the inner
ear will change the specific gravity
 Alcohol and Flying and cause erroneous results for
certain movements, leading to
• Alcohol has a lower disorientation.
specific gravity than
• Alcohol in the fleshy stalk of the
water.
otoliths may persist for days after
all traces of alcohol have
vanished from the blood.
 Motion Sickness
• Motion sickness is caused by a
• It arises when man is mismatch between the visual
exposed to real or and vestibular signals.
apparent motion of
an unfamiliar kind.
 • Nausea.
• Hyperventilation.
• Vomiting.
The symptoms of • Pallor.
motion sickness are:
• Cold sweating.
• Headache.
• Depression.
 • Visual mismatching can be
 Coping with Motion reduced by closing the eyes but
Sickness this is obviously not acceptable for
aircrew.
• Keep the head still if
• Being relieved of lookout duty,
possible, as
with its continuous head
movement aggravates
movements will help, as will
the vestibular system.
concentrating on flying the
aircraft.
 • Medication may help but
always consult an aviation
• Go for steady doctor before taking any drugs
progress in aircraft before flying.
manoeuvres. Hyoscine is the normal drug
Opening the air vents prescribed for air sickness.
will help in the majority
of cases.