Special Senses Module Explains Vision, Hearing & Equilibrium

Our Lady of Lourdes College Foundation Learning Module
College of Nursing/ Medical Laboratory Sciences Anatomy and Physiology

Instructor: Omar E. Atendido, PTRP
Module 10: SENSES

Chapter 10
Senses
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
This chapter examines the general senses and special senses, emphasizing
their importance as the means by which the brain receives sensations from
the outer world and the body. Sensory receptors for touch, pressure,
temperature, pain, vibration, itch, and proprioception (sense of position) are
located throughout the body and are referred to as the general senses. The
receptors for the sensations of taste, smell, sight, hearing, and balance are
highly localized to one or two areas in the body and are referred to as the
special senses. The structure of the special sense organs for olfaction and
taste are introduced. The structures of the eye and ear are examined in
greater detail. In all cases the relationship between the structure of each
sensory apparatus and its ability to provide information about changes to the
local environment are stressed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of
how aging affects the special senses.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Define sensation.
2. Distinguish between general senses and special senses.
3. List and describe five types of sensory receptors.
4. List the general senses and the receptor type associated with each.
5. Define and describe pain and referred pain.
6. List the special senses.
7. Describe the olfactory neurons and explain how airborne molecules can
stimulate action potentials in the olfactory nerves.
8. Outline the structure and function of a taste bud.
9. List the accessory structures of the eye and explain their functions.
10. Name the tunics of the eye, list the parts of each tunic, and describe the
functions of each part.
11. Explain the differences in function between rods and cones.
12. Describe the chambers of the eye and the fluids they contain.
Module 10: SENSES

13. Explain how images are focused on the retina.
14. Describe the structures of the outer and middle ears, and state the
function of each.
15. Describe the anatomy of the cochlea and explain how sounds are
detected.
16. Explain how the structures of the vestibule and semicircular canals
function in static and dynamic equilibrium.
17. Describe changes that occur in the senses with aging
Special Senses
• Special senses include:
• Smell
• Taste
• Sight
• Hearing
• Equilibrium
• Special sense receptors
• Large, complex sensory organs
• Localized clusters of receptors
Part I: The Eye and Vision

• 70 percent of all sensory receptors are in the eyes
• Each eye has over 1 million nerve fibers carrying information to the brain
Anatomy of the Eye

• Accessory structures include the:
• Extrinsic eye muscles
• Eyelids
• Conjunctiva
• Lacrimal apparatus
External and Accessory Structures

• Eyelids
• Meet at the medial and lateral commissure (canthus)
• Eyelashes
• Tarsal glands produce an oily secretion that lubricates the eye
• Ciliary glands are located between the eyelashes
• Conjunctiva
• Membrane that lines the eyelids and eyeball
• Connects with the transparent cornea
• Secretes mucus to lubricate the eye and keep it moist
Module 10: SENSES
• Lacrimal apparatus = lacrimal gland + ducts

• Lacrimal gland—produces lacrimal fluid (tears); situated on lateral
end of each eye
• Tears drain across the eye into the lacrimal canaliculi, then the
lacrimal sac, and into the nasolacrimal duct, which empties into the
nasal cavity
• Tears contain:
• Dilute salt solution
• Mucus
• Antibodies
• Lysozyme (enzyme that destroys bacteria)
• Function of tears
• Cleanse, protect, moisten, lubricate the eye
External and Accessory Structures

• Extrinsic eye muscles
• Six muscles attach to the outer surface of the eye
• Produce gross eye movements
Internal Structures: The Eyeball

• Three layers, or tunics, form the wall of the eyeball
• Fibrous layer: outside layer
• Vascular layer: middle layer
• Sensory layer: inside layer
• Humors are fluids that fill the interior of the eyeball
• Lens divides the eye into two chambers

• Fibrous layer = sclera + cornea
• Sclera
• White connective tissue layer
• Seen anteriorly as the “white of the eye”
• Cornea
• Transparent, central anterior portion
• Allows for light to pass through
• Repairs itself easily
• The only human tissue that can be transplanted without fear
of rejection
Module 10: SENSES

• Vascular layer
• Choroid is a blood-rich nutritive layer that contains a pigment
(prevents light from scattering)
• Choroid is modified anteriorly into two smooth muscle structures
• Ciliary body
• Iris—regulates amount of light entering eye
• Pigmented layer that gives eye color
• Pupil—rounded opening in the iris

• Sensory layer
• Retina contains two layers
• Outer pigmented layer absorbs light and prevents it from
scattering
• Inner neural layer contains receptor cells (photoreceptors)
• Rods
• Cones

• Sensory layer (continued)
• Electrical signals pass from photoreceptors via a two-neuron chain
• Bipolar neurons
• Ganglion cells
• Signals leave the retina toward the brain through the optic nerve
• Optic disc (blind spot) is where the optic nerve leaves the eyeball
• Cannot see images focused on the optic disc

• Rods
• Most are found toward the edges of the retina
• Allow vision in dim light and peripheral vision
• All perception is in gray tones

• Cones
• Allow for detailed color vision
• Densest in the center of the retina
• Fovea centralis–lateral to blind spot
• Area of the retina with only cones
Module 10: SENSES

• Visual acuity (sharpest vision) is here
• No photoreceptor cells are at the optic disc, or blind spot

• Cone sensitivity
• Three types of cones
• Each cone type is sensitive to different wavelengths of visible
light

• Lens
• Flexible, biconvex crystal-like structure
• Held in place by a suspensory ligament attached to the ciliary body

• Lens divides the eye into two chambers
1. Anterior (aqueous) segment
• Anterior to the lens
• Contains aqueous humor, a clear, watery fluid
2. Posterior (vitreous) segment
• Posterior to the lens
• Contains vitreous humor, a gel-like substance

• Aqueous humor
• Watery fluid found between lens and cornea
• Similar to blood plasma
• Helps maintain intraocular pressure
• Provides nutrients for the lens and cornea
• Reabsorbed into venous blood through the scleral venous sinus, or
canal of Schlemm

• Vitreous humor
• Gel-like substance posterior to the lens
• Prevents the eye from collapsing
• Helps maintain intraocular pressure

• Ophthalmoscope
• Instrument used to illuminate the interior of the eyeball and fundus
Module 10: SENSES

(posterior wall)
• Can detect diabetes, arteriosclerosis, degeneration of the optic
nerve and retina
Physiology of Vision
• Pathway of light through the eye and light refraction
• Light must be focused to a point on the retina for optimal vision
• Light is bent, or refracted, by the cornea, aqueous humor, lens, and
vitreous humor
• The eye is set for distant vision (over 20 feet away)
• Accommodation—the lens must change shape to focus on closer
objects (less than 20 feet away)
• Pathway of light through the eye and light refraction (continued)
• Image formed on the retina is a real image
• Real images are:
• Reversed from left to right
• Upside down
• Smaller than the object
• Visual fields and visual pathways to the brain
• Optic nerve
• Bundle of axons that exit the back of the eye carrying
impulses from the retina
• Optic chiasma
• Location where the optic nerves cross
• Fibers from the medial side of each eye cross over to the
opposite side of the brain
• Visual fields and visual pathways to the brain (continued)
• Optic tracts
• Contain fibers from the lateral side of the eye on the same
side and the medial side of the opposite eye
• Synapse with neurons in the thalamus
• Optic radiation
• Axons from the thalamus run to the occipital lobe
• Synapse with cortical cells, and vision interpretation (seeing)
occurs
Module 10: SENSES
• Summary of the pathway of impulses from the retina to the point of visual
interpretation
1. Optic nerve
2. Optic chiasma
3. Optic tract
4. Thalamus
5. Optic radiation
6. Optic cortex in occipital lobe of brain
• Visual fields
• Each eye “sees” a slightly different view
• Field of view overlaps for each eye
• Binocular vision results and provides:
• Depth perception (three-dimensional vision)
A Closer Look
• Emmetropia—eye focuses images correctly on the retina
• Myopia (nearsightedness)
• Distant objects appear blurry
• Light from those objects fails to reach the retina and are focused in
front of it
• Results from an eyeball that is too long
A Closer Look
• Hyperopia (farsightedness)
• Near objects are blurry, whereas distant objects are clear
• Distant objects are focused behind the retina
• Results from an eyeball that is too short or from a “lazy lens”
A Closer Look
• Astigmatism
• Images are blurry
• Results from light focusing as lines, not points, on the retina
because of unequal curvatures of the cornea or lens
Module 10: SENSES
• Eye reflexes
• Convergence: reflexive movement of the eyes medially when we
focus on a close object
• Photopupillary reflex: bright light causes pupils to constrict
• Accommodation pupillary reflex: viewing close objects causes
pupils to constrict
Part II: The Ear: Hearing and Balance

• Ear houses two senses
1. Hearing
2. Equilibrium (balance)
• Receptors are mechanoreceptors
• Different organs house receptors for each sense
Anatomy of the Ear

• The ear is divided into three areas
1. External (outer) ear
2. Middle ear
3. Internal (inner) ear
Anatomy of the Ear

• External (outer) ear
• Auricle (pinna)
• External acoustic meatus (auditory canal)
• Narrow chamber in the temporal bone
• Lined with skin and ceruminous (earwax) glands
• Ends at the tympanic membrane (eardrum)
• External ear is involved only in collecting sound waves
Anatomy of the Ear

• Middle ear cavity (tympanic cavity)
• Air-filled, mucosa-lined cavity within the temporal bone
• Involved only in the sense of hearing
• Located between tympanic membrane and oval window and round
window
Anatomy of the Ear

• Middle ear cavity (tympanic cavity) (continued)
• Pharyngotympanic tube (auditory tube)
• Links middle ear cavity with the throat
Module 10: SENSES

• Equalizes pressure in the middle ear cavity so the eardrum
can vibrate
• Middle ear cavity (tympanic cavity) (continued)

• Three bones (ossicles) span the cavity
1. Malleus (hammer)
2. Incus (anvil)
3. Stapes (stirrup)
• Function
• Transmit vibrations from tympanic membrane to the fluids of
the inner ear
• Vibrations travel from the hammer → anvil → stirrup → oval
window of inner ear
Anatomy of the Ear

• Internal (inner) ear
• Includes sense organs for hearing and balance
• Bony labyrinth (osseous labyrinth) consists of:
• Cochlea
• Vestibule
• Semicircular canals
• Bony labyrinth is filled with perilymph
• Membranous labyrinth is suspended in perilymph and
contains endolymph
Equilibrium
• Equilibrium receptors of the inner ear are called the vestibular apparatus
• Vestibular apparatus has two functional parts
1. Static equilibrium
2. Dynamic equilibrium
Static Equilibrium
• Maculae—receptors in the vestibule
• Report on the position of the head
• Help us keep our head erect
• Send information via the vestibular nerve (division of cranial nerve
VIII) to the cerebellum of the brain
• Anatomy of the maculae
• Hair cells are embedded in the otolithic membrane
• Otoliths (tiny stones) float in a gel around hair cells
• Movements cause otoliths to roll and bend hair cells
Module 10: SENSES
Dynamic Equilibrium
• Crista ampullaris
• Responds to angular or rotational movements of the head
• Located in the ampulla of each semicircular canal
• Tuft of hair cells covered with cupula (gelatinous cap)
• If the head moves, the cupula drags against the endolymph
• Hair cells are stimulated, and the impulse travels the vestibular
nerve to the cerebellum
Hearing
• Spiral organ of Corti
• Located within the cochlear duct
• Receptors = hair cells on the basilar membrane
• Gel-like tectorial membrane is capable of bending hair cells
• Cochlear nerve attached to hair cells transmits nerve impulses to
auditory cortex on temporal lobe
Hearing
• Pathway of vibrations from sound waves
• Move by the ossicles from the eardrum to the oval window
• Sound is amplified by the ossicles
• Pressure waves cause vibrations in the basilar membrane in the
spiral organ of Corti
• Hair cells of the tectorial membrane are bent when the basilar
membrane vibrates against it
• An action potential starts in the cochlear nerve (cranial nerve VIII),
and the impulse travels to the temporal lobe
Hearing
• High-pitched sounds disturb the short, stiff fibers of the basilar membrane
• Receptor cells close to the oval window are stimulated
• Low-pitched sounds disturb the long, floppy fibers of the basilar membrane
• Specific hair cells further along the cochlea are affected
Hearing and Equilibrium Deficits

• Deafness is any degree of hearing loss
• Conduction deafness results when the transmission of sound
vibrations through the external and middle ears is hindered
• Sensorineural deafness results from damage to the nervous system
structures involved in hearing
• Ménière’s syndrome affects the inner ear and causes progressive
deafness and perhaps vertigo (sensation of spinning)
Module 10: SENSES

Part III: Chemical Senses: Smell and Taste
• Chemoreceptors
• Stimulated by chemicals in solution
• Taste has five types of receptors
• Smell can differentiate a wider range of chemicals
• Both senses complement each other and respond to many of the same
stimuli
Olfactory Receptors and the Sense of Smell

• Olfactory receptors are in roof of nasal cavity
• Olfactory receptor cells (neurons) with long cilia known as olfactory
hairs detect chemicals
• Chemicals must be dissolved in mucus for detection by
chemoreceptors called olfactory receptors
• Impulses are transmitted via the olfactory filaments to the olfactory nerve
(cranial nerve I)
• Smells are interpreted in the olfactory cortex
Taste Buds and the Sense of Taste

• Taste buds house the receptor organs
• Locations of taste buds
• Most are on the tongue
• Soft palate
• Superior part of the pharynx
• Cheeks

• The tongue is covered with projections called papillae that contain taste
buds
• Vallate (circumvallate) papillae
• Fungiform papillae
• Filiform papillae

• Gustatory cells are the taste receptors
• Possess gustatory hairs (long microvilli)
• Gustatory hairs protrude through a taste pore
• Hairs are stimulated by chemicals dissolved in saliva
Module 10: SENSES

• Impulses are carried to the gustatory complex by several cranial nerves
because taste buds are found in different areas
• Facial nerve (cranial nerve VII)
• Glossopharyngeal nerve (cranial nerve IX)
• Vagus nerve (cranial nerve X)
• Taste buds are replaced frequently by basal cells

• Five basic taste sensations
• Sweet receptors respond to sugars, saccharine, some amino acids
• Sour receptors respond to H+ ions or acids
• Bitter receptors respond to alkaloids
• Salty receptors respond to metal ions
• Umami receptors respond to the amino acid glutamate or the beefy
taste of meat
Part IV: Developmental Aspects of the Special Senses

• Special sense organs are formed early in embryonic development
• Maternal infections during the first 5 or 6 weeks of pregnancy may cause
visual abnormalities as well as sensorineural deafness in the developing
child

• Vision requires the most learning
• The infant has poor visual acuity (is farsighted) and lacks color vision and
depth perception at birth
• The eye continues to grow and mature until age
• 8 or 9

• Age-related eye issues
• Presbyopia—“old vision” results from decreasing lens elasticity that
accompanies aging
• Causes difficulty to focus for close vision
• Lacrimal glands become less active
• Lens becomes discolored
• Dilator muscles of iris become less efficient, causing pupils to
remain constricted
Module 10: SENSES

• The newborn infant can hear sounds, but initial responses are reflexive
• By the toddler stage, the child is listening critically and beginning to imitate
sounds as language development begins
• Age-related ear problems
• Presbycusis—type of sensorineural deafness that may result from
otosclerosis
• Otosclerosis—ear ossicles fuse
• Congenital ear problems usually result from missing pinnas and
closed or missing external acoustic meatuses

• Taste and smell are most acute at birth and decrease in sensitivity after
age 40 as the number of olfactory and gustatory receptors decreases
REFERENCES:
1. ESSENTIALS OF HUMAN ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY by Elaine
Marieb; Pearson, 12TH Edition 2019.
2. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY by VanPutte, Regan, Russo: McGraw
Hill 10th edition, 2019.
3. ESSENTIALS OF ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY by Seeley, Stephens
and Tate; McGraw Hill, 2007.

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Our Lady of Lourdes College Foundation Learning Module

College of Nursing/ Medical Laboratory Sciences Anatomy and Physiology

Module 10: SENSES

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

Module 10: SENSES

Part I: The Eye and Vision

Anatomy of the Eye

External and Accessory Structures

Module 10: SENSES

• Lacrimal apparatus = lacrimal gland + ducts

External and Accessory Structures

Internal Structures: The Eyeball

Internal Structures: The Eyeball

Module 10: SENSES

Internal Structures: The Eyeball

Internal Structures: The Eyeball

Internal Structures: The Eyeball

Internal Structures: The Eyeball

Internal Structures: The Eyeball

Module 10: SENSES

Internal Structures: The Eyeball

Internal Structures: The Eyeball

Internal Structures: The Eyeball

Internal Structures: The Eyeball

Internal Structures: The Eyeball

Internal Structures: The Eyeball

Module 10: SENSES

Module 10: SENSES

Module 10: SENSES

Part II: The Ear: Hearing and Balance

Anatomy of the Ear

Anatomy of the Ear

Anatomy of the Ear

Anatomy of the Ear

Module 10: SENSES

• Middle ear cavity (tympanic cavity) (continued)

Anatomy of the Ear

Module 10: SENSES

Hearing and Equilibrium Deficits

Module 10: SENSES

Olfactory Receptors and the Sense of Smell

Taste Buds and the Sense of Taste

Taste Buds and the Sense of Taste

Taste Buds and the Sense of Taste

Module 10: SENSES

Taste Buds and the Sense of Taste

Taste Buds and the Sense of Taste

Part IV: Developmental Aspects of the Special Senses

Part IV: Developmental Aspects of the Special Senses

Part IV: Developmental Aspects of the Special Senses

Module 10: SENSES

Part IV: Developmental Aspects of the Special Senses

Part IV: Developmental Aspects of the Special Senses

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