SPECIAL SENSES II

AUDITORY SYSTEM

elizabeth
 STRUCTURE
• The ear can be divided into three (3) anatomic
parts:
 External Ear.
 Middle Ear.
 Inner Ear.
• EXTERNAL EAR
 Includes the pinna
 External auditory meatus (has cerumen
(wax)producing glands).
A model of the middle ear.
Vibrations from the eardrum are
transmitted by the lever system formed
by the ossicular chain to the oval
window of the scala vestibuli.
 The combination of the four
suspensory ligaments produces a virtual
pivot point (marked by a cross)(The anterior
and posterior ligaments, part of the suspensory
system for the ossicles, are not shown); its
position varies with the frequency and
intensity of the sound.
The stapedius and tensor tympani
muscles modify the lever function of the
ossicular chain.
 STRUCTURES
• MIDDLE EAR
• Air filled cavity in the temporal bone.
• Communicates with the nasopharynx through the
Eustachian Tube, which equalizes air pressure on
either side of the tympanic membrane.
• The middle ear contains three auditory ossicles:
 The Malleus:
Its manubrium is attached to the tympanic membrane.
Short process is attached to the INCUS.
The TENSOR TYMPANI skeletal muscle pulls the manubrium
to “tense” the tympanic membrane and DECREASE its
vibrations.
 The Incus.
 The Stapes:
Its footplate covers the oval window (doorway to
the inner ear).
Stapedius (skeletal muscle) dampens sounds to
protect the inner ear from damage by moving the
footplate of the stapes away from the oval
window.
 STRUCTURES
• INNER EAR
 Located in the petrous part of the temporal bone.
 It has 2 anatomical parts
The bony labyrinth – channels that are full of perilymph. It
encloses the second part.
The membranous labyrinth – surrounded by perilymph, it
contains endolymph. Receptor structures are found here. It
does not communicate with perilymph.
 The inner ear has receptors for two sensory
modalities;
Hearing – via the COCHLEA
Equilibrium – via the Semicircular canals, utricle and
saccule
 THE COCHLEA
• Term means “Snail”
• Located in a bony core called the “Modiolus”
• It has 2 membranes that divide it along its entire course into 3
segments. These membranes are;
 Reissner’s membrane
 Basilar membrane – on which the Organ of Corti lies.
• The 3 segments are;
 The scala vestibuli – contains perilymph.
 The scala media – contains endolymph.
 The scala tympani – contains perilymph and
communicates with the scala vestibuli at the
helicotrema. (Cochlear apex)
 THE ORGAN OF CORTI
• Lies on the basilar membrane.
• It contains the hair cells i.e. the receptors.
• It extends the entire length of the cochlear i.e. from the apex
to the base.
• The apices of the hair cells pierce through the tough reticular
lamina overlying the tectoral membrane to bathe in the
endolymph of the scala media.
• The bases of the hair cells bath in perilymph since the basilar
membrane is quite permeable to perilymph from the scala
tympani.
• This arrangement ensures the normal production of
generator potentials since perilymph and endolymph have
different ionic compositions.
ORGAN OF CORTI
 ENDOLYMPH VS. PERILYMPH
• They differ in ionic composition.
• Endolymph has ionic properties of an “intracellular fluid” yet
it is located within an “extracellular compartment.
• This property of the endolymph is maintained by the cells of
the striae vascularis.
Ionic Composition Endolymph Perilymph

Produced by the Stria Produced from plasma

vascularis
Within the membranous Within the bony labyrinth
labyrinth
Sodium (mmols/L) 1 150
Potassium(mmols/L) 150 5

Chloride (mmols/L) 130 125

 GENERATION OF ACTION POTENTIALS AND
ELECTRICAL RESPONSES

• When the hair cells are displaced toward the kinocilium they
get depolarized (From -60mV to about -50mV).
• When the stereocilia are pushed away from the kinocilium
they are HYPERPOLARIZED.
• Movement of stereocilia along their individual axes produces
no voltage change.
• Depolarization of hair cells causes them to release glutamate
which activates afferent neurons.
• The hair cells are therefore mechanoreceptors (responsive to
displacement).
 TIP LINK MECHANISM
• Tip-Links are tiny thread-like connections from the tip of each
cilium attached to a mechanically sensitive potassium channel on
the side of the taller neighboring cilium.
• When the cilia are bent toward the tallest one, the potassium
channels are opened, much like a trap door.
• Opening these channels allows an influx of potassium, which in
turn opens calcium channels. This mechanism transduces
mechanical energy into neural impulses.
• An inward K+ current depolarizes the cell, and opens voltage-
dependent calcium channels.
• This in turn causes neurotransmitter release at the basal end of
the hair cell, eliciting an action potential in the dendrites of the
VIIIth cranial nerve
TIP LINKS
Response of the tip link to compressive
and tensile forces. (A) Freeze-etch images
of a smoothly buckled bullfrog tip link. (B
and C) Freeze-etch images of a bullfrog
tip link apparently under tension; note
that lower membrane is cone-shaped,
suggesting that tenting is present. (D)
Thin-section TEM image of a tip link in a
relaxed state. (E) Thin-section TEM image
of a tip link in a tensed state. The
membrane appears to pull away from
the tip density. (Scale bars = 100 nm.)
 HEARING AND SOUND

• Sound is the sensation produced when

compression and decompression waves
(vibrations) transmitted in air or other elastic
media strike the tympanic membrane.
• Sound waves are longitudinal vibrations of
molecules in the external environment that
wax and wane.
PLACE THEORY OF HEARING

The hair cells that a sound wave

stimulates are determined by the
properties of the basilar membrane.
The membrane is about 100 μm wide
at the base and 500 μm wide at the
apex. It also has a higher tension at the
base. Thus, the base is predicted to
vibrate at higher frequencies than the
apex.
In effect, the basilar membrane
serves as a frequency analyzer; it
distributes the stimulus along the
organ of Corti so that different hair
cells will respond to different
frequencies of sound. This is the
basis of the place theory of
hearing.
 MASKING OF SOUND
• The reduced ability to perceive other sounds
in the presence of one sound.
• Masking is caused by the absolute
refractoriness of hair cells due to the
previous stimulation.
• It is most effective when the “masking sound”
is of a high frequency (higher pitch).
 TRANSMISSION OF SOUND
• THE TYMPANIC MEMBRANE
 It reproduces the vibrations of the sound source.
Acts as a “resonator”.
 Transfers the vibrations to the manubrium of the
malleus.
• THE OSSICLES
 They are a lever system that converts the vibrations
of the tympanic membrane into back-and-forth
movements of the footplate of the stapes on the oval
window (and by extension the perilymph of the scala
vestibuli).
 The displacement of perilymph in the scale vestibuli
sets off a wave in the fluid that differentially displaces
parts of the basilar and reissner membranes distorting
the Organ of Corti (TRAVELLING WAVE THEORY OF
HEARING)
 The smaller area of the oval window relative to the
tympanic membrane and the ossicular lever system
amplify the auditory signal by x1.3. They provide
“impedance reduction”. For this reason “Air
conduction is always better than bone conduction”.
 TYPES OF SOUND CONDUCTION
• OSSICULAR CONDUCTION
 This is normal sound conduction via the tympanic
membrane and the ossicles.
• BONE CONDUCTION
 Vibrations picked by the perilymph of the scala vestibuli
from vibrating skull bones.
 Its useful in loud sounds.
• AIR CONDUCTION
 Sound waves initiate vibrations on the second smaller
tympanic membrane that covers the round window...by
extension the perilymph of the scala tympani
AUDITORY PATHWAY
 Questions
• Differentiate between endolymph and
perilymph.
• What is sound masking (3 marks)
• Describe the three properties of sound.
• Describe the tip link mechanism.
• Describe the auditory pathway.
• Name the parts found in:
1. inner ear
2. middle ear