Deck 6: Hearing

Question 1

Which of the following is not one of the ossicles?

A) Malleus
B) Scala tympani
C) Stapes
D) Incus

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What mechanical problem is overcome by the structures of the middle ear?

A) Matching the impedances of air and fluid
B) Buckling of the tympanic membrane
C) Blocking of the eustachian tube
D) Distortion of sound by the pinna

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The organ of Corti lies on the:

A) Scala tympani
B) Vestibular membrane
C) Tectorial membrane
D) Basilar membrane

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Movements of the basilar membrane are transmitted to the auditory nerve by the:

A) Outer hair cells
B) Pillar cells
C) Inner hair cells
D) Vestibular membrane

Question 5

From its basal region, the basilar membrane:

A) Increases in width and flexibility
B) Increases in width and decreases in flexibility
C) Does not change in width or flexibility
D) Decreases in width and increases in flexibility

Question 6

The auditory thalamic nucleus is the

A) Lateral lemniscus
B) Dorsal cochlear nucleus
C) Superior olive
D) Medial geniculate

Question 7

The frequency to which an auditory neuron is most sensitive is known as its:

A) Peak frequency
B) Characteristic frequency
C) Lowest frequency
D) Preferred frequency

Question 8

Phase-locking was suggested as a way of encoding frequency because:

A) The basilar membrane has a limited frequency response
B) There are only about 3,500 inner hair cells
C) Auditory neurons have a limited dynamic range
D) Preserving the phase of sounds is important

Question 9

Fletcher's technique for measuring the bandwidth of human auditory filters is known as:

A) Auditory unmasking
B) Critical band masking
C) Notch filtering
D) Dynamic masking

Question 10

The half-power bandwidth of an auditory filter is:

A) The range of frequencies at which its response has fallen from its maximum by 3 dB
B) The range of frequencies at which its response has fallen from its maximum by 10 dB
C) Its sensitivity at a frequency half that of its characteristic frequency
D) None of these

Question 11

For tones above 4 kHz:

A) Pitch decreases with sound level
B) Pitch does not change with sound level
C) Pitch rises with sound level
D) Pitch cannot be judged

Question 12

Discrimination thresholds for high-frequency tones are much larger than for low-frequency tones. This is a problem for place theory because:

A) The theory predicts that discrimination of low frequencies should be worse
B) The theory predicts that the bandwidths of lower frequencies should be greater
C) The theory makes no predictions about discrimination thresholds
D) According to place theory, if discrimination thresholds are larger for higher frequencies, the bandwidths of higher frequency auditory filters should also be greater, and this is not found

Question 13

People with congenital amusia often exhibit which characteristic?

A) Lower concentration of grey matter than normal in the right inferior gyrus of the frontal lobe
B) Higher concentration of white matter than normal in the Heschl's gyrus
C) Delayed neural responses in the auditory cortex when perceiving pitch
D) Lower thresholds than normal in detecting two tones that differ in pitch

Question 14

Responses of neurons in the cat auditory system to different ranges of sound intensity show that:

A) Neurons with high thresholds start to respond at very low sound levels and saturate at medium sound levels
B) Neurons with low thresholds start to respond at very low sound levels and saturate at medium sound levels
C) Neurons with high thresholds start to respond at very low sound levels and saturate at high sound levels
D) Neurons with low thresholds start to respond at very low sound levels and saturate at high sound levels

Question 15

The upper limit of the frequency range which humans can accurately perceive pitch (e.g. reproduce a sequence of tones) is about:

A) 1 kHz
B) 2.5 kHz
C) 5 kHz
D) 10 kHz

Question 16

Which of the following does not increase the probability of fusion of two-tone sequences?

A) Increasing the alternation rate
B) Switching to the other ear
C) Increasing the frequency difference between the tones
D) Increasing the difference in sound level between the tones

Question 17

A default assumption of the auditory system appears to be that:

A) Sounds come from straight ahead
B) Different sounds come from different locations
C) Sounds come from a single source
D) Higher frequencies are more salient

Question 18

Which of the following has not been suggested as a reason for thinking that speech perception is special?

A) Categorical perception
B) Involvement of specialised neural structures
C) Context-dependent perception of phonemes
D) Immunity to effects of reverberation

Question 19

A region in which intelligible aspects of speech are processed has been located in the:

A) Left superior temporal gyrus
B) Left superior temporal sulcus
C) Right superior parietal lobule
D) Right amygdala

Question 20

The McGurk Effect is the finding that:

A) Perception of speech sounds is influenced by seeing movements of the speaker's lips
B) Perception of speech is best with closed eyes
C) A speaker's accent does not affect intelligibility after listening for about 1 minute
D) Observers can identify speech sounds just by looking at the speaker's lips

Question 21

Which if the following allows motion of the fluid in the cochlea?

A) The round window
B) The helicotrema
C) The oval window
D) The auditory meatus

Question 22

What is the centre frequency of the band of frequencies amplified by the canal of the adult ear?

A) 2 kHz
B) 9.3 kHz
C) 4.7 kHz
D) 15 kHz

Question 23

The length of the uncoiled cochlea is about:

A) 1 cm
B) 3 cm
C) 8 cm
D) 12 cm

Question 24

The number of fibres in the auditory nerve is about:

A) 1,000,000
B) 1,000
C) 10,000
D) 30,000

Question 25

Otoacoustic emissions are:

A) Sounds produced by activity within the cochlea
B) Wax in the ear canal
C) Fluid in the middle ear
D) Activity in the eustachian tubes during swallowing

Question 26

Using fMRI, Humphries et al. found abutting regions within human auditory cortex which:

A) Responded selectively to sounds which differed in intensity
B) Responded selectively to sounds which differed in frequency
C) Demonstrated phase-locking
D) Responded selectively to different phonemes

Question 27

For pure tones below 2 kHz:

A) Pitch decreases with sound level
B) Pitch does not change with sound level
C) Pitch rises with sound level
D) Pitch cannot be judged

Question 28

If the fundamental frequency (200 Hz) is removed from a tone of 200 Hz with harmonics of 400, 600, 800, 1000 Hz, its pitch has a frequency of:

A) 450 Hz
B) 4.2 kHz
C) 200 Hz
D) 680 Hz

Question 29

Which of the following does NOT influence the perception of more than one auditory stream when hearing a tone sequence?

A) Synchronicity
B) Decibel level
C) Sound frequency
D) Articulatory movements

Question 30

Which of the following brain areas has most frequently been activated in fMRI studies examining processing of McGurk stimuli?

A) Superior parietal lobule
B) Cerebellum
C) Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
D) Superior temporal sulcus

Question 31

How does the middle ear compensate for the difference in impedance between air and the fluid in the cochlea?

Question 32

What is the role of the basilar membrane in encoding sounds of differing frequencies?

Question 33

How might different frequencies be encoded by auditory neurons?

Question 34

Why do some people when hearing the pitch of a complex tone perceive the missing fundamental and others perceive one of the harmonics?

Question 35

What governs whether we hear one or two auditory streams?