1.

Auditory sensory gating is a neurological mechanism or process of the brain in which

redundant or unnecessary sounds in the brain are filtered out. It is our brain’s
adaptation to allow concentration of its attention on the most important auditory sound,
thus saving energy. The brain stem, thalamus, and primary auditory cortex cause sensory
gating for auditory stimuli to occur. This explains why we tend to stop hearing the
continuous ticking of the clock after hearing it for a period of time. However, we can
detect the ticking again if we will focus our attention to the clock because the brain will
respond to the stimulus.
Reference: https://www.hearingreview.com/hearing-loss/health-wellness/researchers-
study-mechanism-behind-auditory-sensory-gating#:~:text=When%20two%20identical
%20sounds%20are,sounds%20does%20not%20function%20properly.

2. Olfactory fatigue, otherwise known as odor fatigue, olfactory adaptation, or

noseblindedness, is a sensory adaptation which results from a normal but temporary
inability to recognize a particular smell after a prolonged exposure to it. It helps the body
to adapt to repeated exposure to odors in order to prevent straining the nervous system
as it needs to recognize new odors. It happens when the stimulus (smell) induces an
electric signal generated by a receptor cell. After the signal is made, the cell membrane
will inhibit the flow of ions, thus preventing more signals to transpire causing our
temporary inability to detect certain smell, which in this case is the brewing coffee.
However, olfactory fatigue will go away if we stay away from the smell for few minutes.

Reference:

https://www.chemdaq.com/blog/chemdaq-blog-1/post/what-is-olfactory-fatigue-do-you-have-
it-10

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_fatigue#:~:text=Olfactory%20fatigue%2C%20also
%20known%20as,exposure%20to%20that%20airborne%20compound.

Sensory adaptation tells us how our sensitivity to a constant stimulus is being reduced to
accommodate other stimuli in our environment. Taking this into account, we can suppose that
the scenario is to be done inside a coffee shop – where people tend to have conversation about
matters. Needless to say, we can instantly smell the brewing coffee upon entering the shop. Yet,
as we are constantly exposed to the odor of the brewing coffee (constant stimulus) overtime, our
sensory adaptation begins to kindle to free up our attention it by reducing our awareness to it in
order to shift our attention to other things like chatting to other people. Thus, this explains why
the odor is barely or totally undetectable.

Again, this question sought the concept of sensory adaptation and attention.
Upon entering a room, it is expected for everyone to initially observe and not yet participate in
any activities that require our awareness and attention. Thus, we can hear even the little ticking
sound of the clock. However, if we constantly sense the similar stimuli, which in this case is the
ticking of the clock, our sensitivity to it begins to reduce to help us attend to other things in the
environment. Likewise, if we begin to engage in any activity which requires our conscious mind
and sometimes full attention, we are able to shift our attention to it (e.g. having conversation
with other people) rather than listening to the overwhelming ticking of the clock – it is still
ticking, thus it still affects our sense of hearing but we no longer perceive it.