Human Performance Chapter Guide

HPL Chapter 4 Nervous system and Hearing

Name __________________ Returned __________

Man and Environment: the sensory system

1) What are the different senses?

- _
- _
- _
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How many senses does the human uses simultaneously for perception?

Which sense you think it is more important to give us a sense of the world around us?

Nervous systems

2) What are the main parts of the central nervous system? (3 different systems)

What are the basic functions of:

- the Central Nervous System (CNS),

- the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

- the Autonomic (Vegetative) System (ANS)

How is information processed by the nervous systems?

What are reflexes?

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Peripheral nerves are divided into
- sensory
- and motor nerves

What are their different purposes.?

3) Are nerve impulses electrical, chemical or electro-chemical ?

4) What is sensory threshold?

Give an example of sensory threshold increasing.

Define ‘sensitivity’ in the context of vision.

Give examples of sensory adaptation

5) What is habituation and why is important to know this term for flight safety?

Biological control systems are neuro-hormonal processes that are highly self-regulated in
the normal environment. How is this self-regulation called? H_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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Hearing
1) What is the audible range of the human ear?

What is the unit of measure for the intensity of sound?

2) Write down the most important parts of the ear and the associated neural pathway of
sound to our brain.
Draw Ear Picture

State the basic functions of the different parts of the auditory system

Differentiate between the functions of the vestibular apparatus and the cochlea in the inner ear
Vestibular apparatus senses _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Cochlea senses _ _ _ _ _ _ _

3) What is the role of the Eustachian tube?

What is the effect of colds or flu on the ability to equalize pressure in the middle ear?

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Hearing loss

4) What are the main causes of the following hearing defects / loss:
- Conductive deafness

- Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL)

- Presbycusis

What are the effects of environmental noise on hearing?

What is the decibel level of noise that will cause NIHL?

What other factors, other than noise level, can cause NIHL?

5) Name some of the potential occupational risks which may cause hearing loss

What are the main sources of hearing loss in the flying environment?

What precautions can you take to reduce the probability of onset of hearing loss?

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Equilibrium

6) What are the main elements of the vestibular apparatus? (name at least two)

What are the functions of the vestibular apparatus on the ground and in flight?

Which component parts of the vestibular apparatus detect;?

- linear acceleration _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

- angular acceleration _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

How are the semicircular canals stimulated? (how do they sense motion?)

Motion sickness

What is air-sickness?

What are the symptoms that accompany air-sickness?

What are the causes of motion sickness?

How can you counteract the symptoms of motion sickness?

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 - Blank page –

Use this page for extra notes.

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