Is middle C 440?

The sensation of pitch is related to the frequency of the sound. The pitch increases with frequency. Thus, the frequency of middle C is 256 Hz, and the frequency of the A above is 440 Hz.

sciencedirect.com - Middle C - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

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12.3 Hearing and the Ear

The sensation of hearing is produced by the response of the nerves in the ear to pressure variations in the sound wave. The nerves in the ear are not the only ones that respond to pressure, as most of the skin contains nerves that are pressure-sensitive. However, the ear is much more sensitive to pressure variations than any other part of the body. Figure 12.5 is a drawing of the human ear. (The ear construction of other terrestrial vertebrates is similar.) For the purposes of description, the ear is usually divided into three main sections: the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. The sensory cells that convert sound to nerve impulses are located in the liquid-filled inner ear. Figure 12.5. A semidiagrammatic drawing of the ear with various structures cut away and simplified to show the basic relationships more clearly. The middle ear muscles have been omitted. The main purpose of the outer and middle ears is to conduct the sound into the inner ear. The outer ear is composed of an external flap called the pinna and the ear canal, which is terminated by the tympanic membrane (eardrum). In many animals the pinna is large and can be rotated toward the source of the sound; this helps the animal to locate the source of sound. However, in humans the pinna is fixed and so small that it does not seem to contribute significantly to the hearing process. The ear canal of an average adult is about 0.75 cm in diameter and 2.5 cm long, a configuration that is resonant for sound waves at frequencies around 3000 Hz. This accounts in part for the high sensitivity of the ear to sound waves in this frequency range. For an animal to perceive sound, the sound has to be coupled from air to the sensory cells that are in the fluid environment of the inner ear. We showed earlier that direct coupling of sound waves into a fluid is inefficient because most of the sound energy is reflected at the interface. The middle ear provides an efficient conduction path for the sound waves from air into the fluid of the inner ear. The middle ear is an air-filled cavity that contains a linkage of three bones called ossicles that connect the eardrum to the inner ear. The three bones are called the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup. The hammer is attached to the inner surface of the eardrum, and the stirrup is connected to the oval window, which is a membrane-covered opening in the inner ear. When sound waves produce vibrations in the eardrum, the vibrations are transmitted by the ossicles to the oval window, which in turn sets up pressure variations in the fluid of the inner ear. The ossicles are connected to the walls of the middle ear by muscles that also act as a volume control. If the sound is excessively loud, these muscles as well as the muscles around the eardrum stiffen and reduce the transmission of sound to the inner ear. The middle ear serves yet another purpose. It isolates the inner ear from the disturbances produced by movements of the head, chewing, and the internal vibrations produced by the person's own voice. To be sure, some of the vibrations of the vocal cords are transmitted through the bones into the inner ear, but the sound is greatly attenuated. We hear ourselves talk mostly by the sound reaching our eardrums from the outside. This can be illustrated by talking with the ears plugged. The Eustachian tube connects the middle ear to the upper part of the throat. Air seeps in through this tube to maintain the middle ear at atmospheric pressure. The movement of air through the Eustachian tube is aided by swallowing. A rapid change in the external air pressure such as may occur during an airplane flight causes a pressure imbalance on the two sides of the eardrum. The resulting force on the eardrum produces a painful sensation that lasts until the pressure in the middle ear is adjusted to the external pressure. The pain is especially severe and prolonged if the Eustachian tube is blocked by swelling or infection.

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The conversion of sound waves into nerve impulses occurs in the cochlea, which is located in the inner ear. The cochlea is a spiral cavity shaped like a snail shell. The wide end of the cochlea, which contains the oval and the round windows, has an area of about 4 mm 2 . The cochlea is formed into a spiral with about 2 3 4 turns. If the cochlea were uncoiled, its length would be about 35 mm. Inside the cochlea there are three parallel ducts; these are shown in the highly simplified drawing of the uncoiled cochlea in Fig. 12.6. All three ducts are filled with a fluid. The vestibular and tympanic canals are joined at the apex of the cochlea by a narrow opening called the helicotrema. The cochlear duct is isolated from the two canals by membranes. One of these membranes, called the basilar membrane, supports the auditory nerves. Figure 12.6. An uncoiled view of the cochlea. The vibrations of the oval window set up a sound wave in the fluid filling the vestibular canal. The sound wave, which travels along the vestibular canal and through the helicotrema into the tympanic canal, produces vibrations in the basilar membrane which stimulate the auditory nerves to transmit electrical pulses to the brain (see Chapter 13). The excess energy in the sound wave is dissipated by the motion of the round window at the end of the tympanic canal. The inner ear also serves a key function of providing our sense of balance. This is done by means of small calcium carbonate crystals called otoconia embedded in a fibrous matrix coupled to sensory cells. The small shifting motion of the otoconia under the changing force of gravity is transmitted to the sensory cells that in turn send signals to the nervous system providing information about spatial orientation of the body. The spatial information is augmented by visual signals as well as signals provided by the position of our limbs with respect to the torso. The biosynthesis of the calcium carbonate crystals and the associated matrix occurs during fetal development. Its construction and maintenance throughout life is not yet fully understood. Several conditions manifesting as vertigo are associated with the miss-function of the otoconia system. 12.3.1 Performance of the Ear The nerve impulses evoke in the brain the subjective sensation of sound. Loudness, pitch, and quality are some of the terms we use to describe the sounds we hear. It is a great challenge for physiologists to relate these subjective responses with the physical properties of sound such as intensity and frequency. Some of these relationships are now well understood; others are still subjects for research. In most cases, the sound wave patterns produced by instruments and voices are highly complex. Each sound has its own characteristic pattern. It would be impossible to evaluate the effect of sound waves on the human auditory system if the response to each sound pattern had to be analyzed separately. Fortunately the problem is not that complicated. About 150 years ago, J. B. J. Fourier, a French mathematician, showed that complex wave shapes can be analyzed into simple sinusoidal waves of different frequencies. In other words, a complex wave pattern can be constructed by adding together a sufficient number of sinusoidal waves at appropriate frequencies and amplitudes. Therefore, if we know the response of the ear to sinusoidal waves over a broad range of frequencies, we can evaluate the response of the ear to a wave pattern of any complexity. An analysis of a wave shape into its sinusoidal components is shown in Fig. 12.7. The lowest frequency in the wave form is called the fundamental, and the higher frequencies are called harmonics. Figure 12.8, shows the sound pattern for a specific note played by various instruments. It is the harmonic content of the sound that differentiates one sound source from another. For a given note played by the various instruments shown in Fig. 12.8, the fundamental frequency is the same but the harmonic content of the wave is different for each instrument. Figure 12.7. The analysis of a complex wave shape (a), into its sine components (b). The point-by-point addition of the fundamental frequency sine wave and the harmonic frequency sine waves yields the wave shape shown in (a). Figure 12.8. Wave forms of sound from different musical instruments sounding the same note. 12.3.2 Frequency and Pitch The human ear is capable of detecting sound at frequencies between about 20 and 20,000 Hz. Within this frequency range, however, the response of the ear is not uniform. The ear is most sensitive to frequencies between 200 and 4000 Hz, and its response decreases toward both higher and lower frequencies. There are wide variations in the frequency response of individuals. Some people cannot hear sounds above 8000 Hz, whereas a few people can hear sounds above 20,000 Hz. Furthermore, the hearing of most people deteriorates with age. The sensation of pitch is related to the frequency of the sound. The pitch increases with frequency. Thus, the frequency of middle C is 256 Hz, and the frequency of the A above is 440 Hz. There is, however, no simple mathematical relationship between pitch and frequency.

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sciencedirect.com - Middle C - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

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