Hearing Science Final
Terms
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- Occurs when the air particles are pushed together.
- Compression
- The property of a body or medium that enables it to return to its original shape after it has been deformed.
- Elasticity
- The number of complete cycles that a periodically vibrating source passes through in a one-second time period.
- Frequency
- Pure tone components of a complex tone that are integral multiples of the fundamental frequency.
- Harmonics
- A complex sound wave that consists of a fundamental frequency together with other pure tone components at integral multiples of the fundamental.
- Harmonic Series
- The unit of measurement for frequency. It is synonymous with the formerly used expression cycles per second. (cps)
- Hertz
- The ability of a body to continue doing what it has been doing.
- Inertia
- The amount of acoustic energy that passes through a unit of area in a given time span.
- Intensity
- Any undesired sound.
- Noise
- The time it takes to compleate one cycle of vibration.
- Period
- A sound with a definite tonal quality.
- Pure Tone
- Occurs when air particles are separated.
- Rarefaction
- It consists of a continuous spectrum across the auditory range.
- White Noise
- A graphic representation of a signal.
- Sine Wave
- Process of friction causing sound vibrations to eventually stop sound.
- Damping
- Logarithmic scale used to measure sound.
- Decibel Scale
- Unit value used to measure sound
- Dyne
- .0002dynes/cm2
- Sound Pressure Level is reference to...
- In medicine, associated with the closure of a normal opening.
- Atresia
- A cyst which typically grows from the upper portion of the tympanic membrane.
- Cholesteatoma
- Occurs when infection persists in the middle ear cavity for a prolonged time period.
- Chronic Otitis Media
- Occurs when changes in the skin that lines the external auditory meatus permit growth of bacteria or fungi.
- External Otitis
- A common cause of conductive hearing loss due to the blocking of the ear canal with cerumen.
- Impacted Cerumen
- A surgical operation that aims to remove diseased mastoid air cells.
- Mastoidectomy
- An inflammation of the mastoid air cells.
- Mastoiditis
- Occurs when the fluid present within the tympanic cavity is thickened, but not infected.
- Mucous Otitis Media
- An operation designed to repair a perforation of the tympanic membrane.
- Myringoplasty
- A surgical incision of the eardrum to drain fluid or pus.
- Myringotomy
- Occurs whenever the ossicular chain is interrupted.
- Ossicular Discontinuity
- A condition in which conductive hearing loss occurs, usually through a gradual fixation of the stapes in the oval window.
- Otosclerosis
- A surgical procedure to improve hearing in cases of otosclerosis.
- Stapedectomy
- A surgical procedure that aims to reconstruct the middle ear's conductive function.
- Tympanoplasty
- A nerve that carries nerve impulses from a sensory organ to the central nervous system.
- Afferent nerve
- Long extensions of nerve cells which carry information away from the cell body.
- Axons
- A nerve that carries nervous impulses from the central nervous system to the periphery.
- Efferent Nerve
- A small opening, located at the apical end of the cochlea, that allows communication between the scala vestibuli and the scala tympani.
- Helicotrema
- The system of interconnecting canals and cavities within the temporal bone that makes up the inner ear.
- Labyrinth
- The lowest part of the brainstem, extending from the pons to the spinal cord.
- Medulla
- The actual sense organ of hearing.
- Organ of Corti
- It is closed by the stapes footplate and the annular ligament. It terminates the scala vestibuli at its basal end.
- Oval Window
- Its membrane serves as the termination of the scala tympani at its basal end.
- Round Window
- A membranous sac located within the vestibule.
- Saccule
- The lowermost channel in the cochlea.
- Scala Tympani
- Caused by noise exposure, disease, head trauma, presbycusis, and ototoxic drugs.
- Acquired Hearing Loss
- The absence of oxygen.
- Anoxia
- Inflammation of the inner ear. It is associated with vertigo and hearing loss.
- Labyrinthitis
- An inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain, or spinal cord.
- Meningitis
- A hearing loss in which the auditory dysfunction is located along the path of the auditory nerve.
- Retrocochlear Hearing Loss
- German measles; sometimes causes congenital hearing loss.
- Rubella
- A temporary reduction in hearing sensitivity following exposure to intense noise.
- Temporary Threshhold Shift
- Conducts nerve impulses toward the brain.
- Afferent Pathway
- The inability to recognize auditory stimuli, even though sensitivity may fall within normal limits.
- Auditory Agnosia
- A nerve that crosses over from one side of the brainstem or brain to the other.
- Decussate
- Conducts nerve impulses away from the brain to the periphery.
- Efferent Pathway
- An intricate relay station through which nerve impulses pass on their way to and from the cortex.
- Thalamus
- The threshhold of audibility.
- Absolute Threshhold
- Sound first enters the external ear canal, passes across the middle ear as vibration, and then travels to the inner ear.
- Air Conduction
- A graph that shows hearing loss (in dB) as a function of stimulus frequency.
- Audiogram
- The method by which hearing sensitivity is measured.
- Audiometry
- Refers to hearing with two ears.
- Binaural Hearing
- Occurs when sound passes to the inner ear through the cranial bones.
- Bone Conduction
- The difference (in dB) between the subject's threshhold for that sound and the corresponding normal threshold.
- Hearing Level
- Refers to hearing with one ear only.
- Monaural Hearing
- The range of sensitivity found whena group of otologically normal individuals is tested.
- Normal Hearing
- An interval between two frequencies with a ratio of 2:1.
- Octave
- Refers to a situation in which a listener localizes sound in space.
- Localization
- Refers to the location, within the head, of an auditory signal presented over earphones.
- Lateralization
- A situation in which the acoustic stimuli presented to the ears differ (in frequency, intensity, phase, duration, etc.)
- Dichotic Listening
- A situation in which both ears receive identical sounds at the same instant in time.
- Diotic Listening
- Refers to the number of decibels that the threshold of one sound is raised by the presend of another sound.
- Masking