Study Guide for Chapter 10

1.         Why must there be a perceiver in order for a sound to exist?

2.         What is the difference between sound and acoustic energy?

3.         In what type of medium does sound travel most quickly? Most slowly?

4.         What happens to sound energy as it travels farther from its source?

5.         Why does sound (unlike light) not seem to be interrupted by a solid object placed in its path?

6.         What are echoes? Do echoes affect our perception of everyday sounds?

7.         What is rarefaction (vs. compression)?

8.         What is the perceptual equivalent of the amplitude of sound waves?

9.         Define a decibel mathematically.

10.       Now define a decibel conceptually.

11.       What is the perceptual equivalency of the frequency of sound waves?

12.       In what ways are sound frequencies measured and expressed?

13,       What is a pure tone?  A complex tone? What is noise?

14.       How likely is it that you will encounter a pure tone in the natural environment?

15.       You should be well-acquainted with the anatomy of the auditory system.

16.       Why are barely audible sounds detected best if they are in the range of approximately 3000 Hz?

17.       What is resonance?

18.       What  is the acoustic reflex and what purposes does it serve?

19.       How is transduction of sound energy accomplished by the auditory system?—you should understand the anatomy of the ear, including the external, middle, and inner ear, cochlea, hair cells, etc.

20.       What is temporal theory?

21.       What is the place theory?

22.       What is tonotopic organization?

23.       What are spontaneous acoustic emissions? Why don’t we hear these sounds (usually)?

24.       What is tinnitus?

25.       How specific to frequencies are the fibers of the auditory nerve?

26.       What does it mean if a sound is broadband (as opposed to narrowband)?

27.       What does binaural mean?  What are binaural cues?

28.       What is interaural time? What kind of information do interaural time differences provide?

29.       What are interaural intensity differences and what information do they provide? What is a sound shadow?

30.       What is cortical deafness?

Notice that, compared to other topics in the chapter, your authors devote relatively little print space to a discussion of the auditory cortex and sound identification.