How can the volunteer determine how far the click is from his or her head? What
ID: 95143 • Letter: H
Question
How can the volunteer determine how far the click is from his or her head? What two differences occur between sounds reaching the left car compared to the right ear when the sound comes from the left side of your environment? Have the volunteer close off one car with cotton and a finger or just the finger pushing inward on the car fold. Then have the volunteer close both eyes. Click the noisemaker at different location around the volunteer's head. Have the volunteer verbally respond to the location (front, back, right or left) of the sound with each click. Open both ears and repeat the above process. Compare the volunteer's ability to accurately determine the location under both conditions.Explanation / Answer
1. Sound localization not only depends upon ears, brain also takes part to determine the location.
At first sound waves travel through the air, then bounce off the pinna of the external ear, and enter the ear canal. The sound waves vibrate the tympanic membrane, causing the three bones of the middle ear to vibrate, which then sends the energy through the oval window and into the cochlea where it is changed into a chemical signal by hair cells in the organ of corti, which synapse onto spiral ganglion fibers that travel through the cochlear nerve into the brain.
The brain utilizes subtle differences in intensity, spectral, and timing cues to allow him or her to localize sound sources that means form where the sound is coming from.
As eyes are closed, volunteers can easily detect from where the sound seems to come from.
2. The angle of sound with the ear and the direction of air make the comparison between left and right ears.
As here sound comes from left side of his or her environment, it reaches to the left ear faster and louder than right ear.
3. In second case volunteer can accurately determine the location.
In first case, as one ear is closed with cotton, the sound wave can only enter to second ear. As a result, brain cannot compare the intensity and timing of the sound.
Suppose the sound coming from the left side and the left side of the ear is closed with cotton. As a result, brain cannot differentiate the intensity of sound because brain only receives low intensity of sound from right side ear. Thus, volunteer can not accurately determine the location.
But, in the second case, as two ears open, brain can easily differentiate the intensity of sound coming from two ears and the volunteer can accurately identify the location.
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