Voluntary Disorders: The Human Auditory System

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The human auditory system is a sequential network of multiple acoustic parts enabling sounds to be received and communicated from our surroundings. Sound is defined as waves of pressure arising from the vibration of air molecules (REF). A complex network of sensors in the ear recognise these waves and encode the waves into electrical signals to be processed by the primary auditory cortex in the brain (REF).
The human ear is divided into the outer ear, middle ear, and inner ear. The outer ear is made up of the auricle, concha, and the external auditory canal (Purves, 2008). All three structures complement each other to maximise sound collection and conduct auditory input towards the tympanic membrane, the outer most surface of the ear drum. …show more content…

In terms of the ear, and the auditory pathway as a whole, it is considered to be the most important compartment (Purves, 2008). The sensory organ of balance is comprised of the vestibule and semicircular canals, whereas the cochlea is the main sensory organ of hearing. Within the cochlear partition, there are three fluid-filled compartments known as the scala vestibuli, scala tympani, and the scala media (Bear, Connors, & Paradiso, 2006). Within the cochlea partition is the scala media which and situated on the basilar membrane between the scala tympani and scala media is the organ of Corti. The organ of Corti has arrays of hair cells used for translating incoming vibration energy into electrical signals for innervation (Bear, Connors, & Paradiso, 2006). Each individual hair cell has stereocilia on its apical surface which acts as the site mechano-transduction. These stereocilia have a bilateral symmetric arrangement. The hair bundles depolarise when displacement towards the tallest stereocilia occurs whereas an opposing displacement of a hair bundle towards the shortest stereocilia results in hyperpolarisation (Purves, 2008). During depolarisation, a stretching of tip links, found on at the tips of adjacent stereocilia, causes cation-selective transduction channels to open allowing an influx of K+ ions into the cell. By varying tensions of these tip links, a graded potential can be established

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