Auditory Perception

 The stimulus for hearing is of

course, the sound waves. When
a sound wave enters the outer
ear, a series of events is set off
which eventually lead to an
auditory perception.
 The ear consists of three
parts: the outer ear, the
middle ear and the inner
ear. The outer ear includes
the auricle and the ear canal.
Separating the ear canal from
the middle ear is a thin
membrane, the eardrum.
The middle ear, the area
between the eardrum and the
inner ear, contains three
little bones ossicles, forming
a chain from the eardrum to
the window of the inner ear.
The inner ear consists of two
parts, the vestibular
apparatus and the coiled
divided, fluid-filled tubes,
the cochlea.
 One end of the cochlea is closed off by the third ossicle at the oval window
and the other end by a thin membrane at the cochlear canal. Since the other
end of the cochlear canal (the round window) is stopped with a thin
membrane, the alternating pressure on the fluid in the canal causes the
membrane to bulge in and out, and fluid motions are set up in the liquid of
the cochlear canal, In this way, the sound wave set up by a vibrating object
(ex. Violin string) in the outside world is eventually transformed into
corresponding liquid pressure waves in the inner ear.
 The sensory cells of
audition, called hair cells
are all found inside the
cochlear canal. The hair
cells rest upon the basilar
membrane. As the basilar
membrane is agitated by
the pressure waves set up
in the fluid of the cochlea,
the hair cells are pushed
against or away from a
mass of gelatinous
material, the tectorial
membrane.
 When pushed against
the tectorial
membrane, the hair
cells are temporarily
squeezed out of shape.
This deformation
stimulates the nerve
fibers in these cells
and a neutral impulse
is set up. The auditory
nerve conducts neutral
impulses from the hair
cells in the cochlea to
the brain.