PHYS 392: Biophysics

Chapter Four
Physics of sensory, respiratory and cardiovascular systems
4.1. Introduction
There are two different approaches to the study of sensory systems;
 In the first approach, a study is made of the correlation between the physical stimulus
and the animal’s (including human’s) response. The sensory system is regarded as a
‘black box’. The investigator analyses what this ‘black box’ can and cannot do, what it
can and cannot detect and discriminate. The investigator does not, however, reach
inside the black box to find out what is responsible for its abilities.
 In the second approach the investigator attempts to reach inside the psychophysicist’s
black box. Attention is focused on the physiology of the sensory system including, in
the case of mammals, the sensory cortices, rather than on the behavioral response.

Sensory detectors specialize to respond to certain types of change. The major categories of change
in the environment may be grouped into the broad categories of mechanical, chemical,
electromagnetic and thermal. In consequence we can classify the major sensory systems as
- Mechanoreceptors
- chemoreceptors and
- photoreceptors. Others may include,
- thermoreceptors - heat
- electroreceptors - electrical fields
- magnetoreceptors- magnetic fields e.g. in prokaryocytes and suspected to exist in birds

The type of stimulus to which a specific receptor is attuned is termed the adequate stimulus.

4.1.1 Modality
Note that the biophysics of nerve impulses is identical from one nerve fibre to another. This has
the consequence that the information from the different sense organs is all transformed into
identical signals to the central nervous system (CNS). It follows that the CNS has no way of telling
whether the impulses cascading into it along the sensory nerve fibres tell of sound, light
temperature or odour, except by attending to precisely which fibre is active. It has been said that
if these ‘labelled’ lines are surgically rerouted, if, for instance, the auditory fibres were directed
into the visual cortex and the visual fibres into the auditory cortex, we should hear lightning as
thunder and see thunder as lightning. This, of course, raises fascinating philosophical questions.
For the auditory cortex and the visual cortex do not differ significantly at the cellular level, still
less at the biophysical level, so why should activity in one cortex give the sensation of sound and
the other the totally different sensation of vision?
4.1.2 Intensity
Happenings in the world differ not only in their type but also in their intensity. Roughly speaking,
stimulus intensity is signalled by the frequency of the action potentials in a sensory nerve fibre.
The weakest stimulus that an organism can detect is known as the threshold stimulus. It is
determined by presenting the organism with a sequence of stimuli increasing from zero intensity
and asked when the stimulus is first detectable. The threshold is defined as that stimulus which is
detected in half the presentations (Figure below - the psychometric function or curve).

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Adaptation
Receptive fields
Maps of sensory surfaces
Hierarchical and parallel design
Feature extraction and trigger stimuli

4.2. The Biophysics of Hearing

Sound/Waves : Description of Periodic Motion

Motion which repeats itself precisely can be described with the following terms:

 Period: the time required to complete a full cycle, T in seconds/cycle

 Frequency: the number of cycles per second, f in 1/seconds or Hertz (Hz)
 Amplitude: the maximum displacement from equilibrium A and if the periodic
motion is in the form of a traveling wave, one needs also

 Velocity of propagation: v
 Wavelength: repeat distance of wave λ.

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42.1. Sound Localization

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4.3. Questions
a. The frequency range of human hearing in air about 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The speed of sound in
air is 344 𝑚𝑠 −1.
i. What are the periods corresponding to these two frequencies? Show all work
ii. What are the typical wavelengths corresponding to these frequencies in air?

b. Consider the following statements. For each statement, state whether you agree' or 'disagree'
and briefly justify your answer.
i. Human ear is more sensitive at 20 Hz than at 2 kHz.

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ii. Doubling of sound pressure will result in doubling of the dB value.

iii. Human inner ear has protective mechanism against loud noise

c. Sound enters the ear, travels through the auditory canal, and reaches the eardrum (see Fig. 7).
The auditory canal is approximately a tube open at
only one end. The other end is closed by the
eardrum. A typical length of the auditory canal in
an adult is about 2.4 cm. the speed of sound is 343
m/s. What is
i. the fundamental frequency and
ii. wavelength of the canal (this is the
frequency that humans are most sensitive to
hearing)
Figure 1

d. Why do we humans hear in the frequency range that we do (20 Hz – 20 KHz)?

e. "Two ears are better than one." Explain how we use the information in our auditory system to
localize sounds of low and high frequencies.
f. Taking human ears separation distance to be 0.15 m,
𝑚
i. Calculate the maximum frequency in air (𝑉𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 343 𝑠 ) that can be localized by humans
ii. Compare the arrival time distances of sound in human in the three given environments with
that in air;
𝑚
1. In water (𝑉𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 = 1500 𝑠 )
𝑚
2. In helium atmosphere (𝑉𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑢𝑚 = 970 𝑠 )
𝑚
3. In sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) (𝑉𝑆𝐹6 = 150 )
𝑠
g. Based on the results of a and b above, explain why do we find it difficult to localize pure tones
with frequencies (1000-5000 Hz) where pitch perception is quite good?
h. Sound enters the ear, travels through the auditory canal, and reaches the eardrum. The auditory
canal is approximately a tube open at only one end. The other end is closed by the eardrum.
A typical length of the auditory canal in an adult is about 2.3 cm. the speed of sound is 343
m/s. what is the fundamental frequency of the canal (this is the frequency that humans are
most sensitive to hearing)
i. "Two ears are better than one." Explain how we use the information in our
auditory system to localize sounds. Why do we find it difficult to localize pure
tones with frequencies (1000-5000 Hz) where pitch perception is quite good?
ii. Why do we humans hear in the frequency range that we do (20 Hz – 20
KHz)? Why do we not hear in the lower/higher frequency ranges (< 20 Hz,
> 20 KHz)?
i. Estimate the length of your ear canal, from its opening at the external ear to the
eardrum. (a) If you regard the canal as a tube open at one end and closed at the
other, at approximately what fundamental frequency would you expect your hearing
to be most sensitive? (b) Explain why you can hear especially soft sounds just around
this frequency? (c) If water filled your ear, but the open - closed assumption is still
made, by what factor would the fundamental frequency change?

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