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Hearing

Hearing

When we hear a sound, our nervous system is detecting sound waves—pressure waves of mechanical energy traveling through a medium. The frequency of the wave is perceived as pitch, while the amplitude is perceived as loudness.

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

The human brain perceives pitch through two primary mechanisms reflected in place theory and frequency theory. Each mechanism describes how sound waves are interpreted as specific pitches by the brain, offering insights into the intricate processes of auditory perception.
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by identifying...

Auditory Pathway

Auditory Pathway

Auditory pathways constitute the complex neural circuits responsible for transmitting and interpreting auditory information from the peripheral auditory system to the brain. Sound waves are initially captured by the outer ear, funneled through the ear canal, and reach the tympanic membrane (eardrum). These vibrations are transmitted via the middle ear's ossicles to the inner ear's cochlea.
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking the...

The Cochlea

The Cochlea

The cochlea is a coiled structure in the inner ear that contains hair cells—the sensory receptors of the auditory system. Sound waves are transmitted to the cochlea by small bones attached to the eardrum called the ossicles, which vibrate the oval window that leads to the inner ear. This causes fluid in the chambers of the cochlea to move, vibrating the basilar membrane.

Perception of Sound Waves

Perception of Sound Waves

The human ear is not equally sensitive to all frequencies in the audible range. It may perceive sound waves with the same pressure but different frequencies as having different loudness. Moreover, the perception of sound waves depends on the health of an individual's ears, which decays with age. The health of one's ears may also be affected by regular exposure to loud noises.
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same frequency...

Auditory Perception

Auditory Perception

The auditory system is essential for sound perception, utilizing various critical structures. When sound waves enter the outer ear, they travel through the ear canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are then transmitted to the middle ear, where three tiny bones – the malleus, incus, and stapes – amplify the sound. This amplification is crucial, as it ensures that the sound vibrations are strong enough to be conveyed to the inner ear. These vibrations then reach the cochlea, a...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 10, 2026

Mapping Cortical Dynamics Using Simultaneous MEG/EEG and Anatomically-constrained Minimum-norm Estimates: an Auditory Attention Example

Mapping Cortical Dynamics Using Simultaneous MEG/EEG and Anatomically-constrained Minimum-norm Estimates: an Auditory Attention Example

Published on: October 24, 2012

Brain dynamics encode the spectrotemporal boundaries of auditory objects.

Amanda R McMullan¹, Dillon A Hambrook, Matthew S Tata

¹University of Lethbridge, Department of Neuroscience, 4401 University Drive W., Lethbridge, AB, Canada T1K 3M4.

Hearing Research

|July 9, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

The brain processes auditory boundaries differently based on energy transients. Sharp energy boundaries use early neural pathways, while gradual ones require complex auditory integration.

Keywords:

FDR IRN ITPC LORN ORN TSE false-discovery rate inter-trial phase coherence iterated rippled noise lateralized object-related negativity object-related negativity time-spectral evolution

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Last Updated: May 10, 2026

Mapping Cortical Dynamics Using Simultaneous MEG/EEG and Anatomically-constrained Minimum-norm Estimates: an Auditory Attention Example

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Published on: October 24, 2012

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Quantitative Assessment of Cortical Auditory-tactile Processing in Children with Disabilities

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Published on: January 29, 2014

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Auditory Perception
Signal Processing

Background:

Visual object perception mechanisms are understood, but auditory domain mechanisms remain unclear.
Neural encoding of spectrotemporal boundaries in the auditory system is poorly understood.
Investigating how the brain distinguishes different types of auditory boundaries is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate differences in neural responses to spectrotemporal boundaries in the auditory scene.
To compare brain activity evoked by auditory boundaries with and without energy transients.
To elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying the perception of auditory boundaries.

Main Methods:

Used iterated rippled noise to generate auditory stimuli with and without energy transients.
Recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) and electroencephalography (EEG) to analyze neural responses.
Analyzed early and late components of ERPs, including gamma-band responses and specific ERP components (P90, N1).

Main Results:

First-order energy boundaries elicited early neural responses (gamma-band, P90 component).
Second-order boundaries (without energy transients) showed absence of early ERP components and only evoked the later N1 component.
The N1 component was delayed for second-order boundaries, with significant theta-band phase lag, suggesting complex neural processing.

Conclusions:

Auditory boundaries defined by sharp energy transients are likely processed by early, feed-forward neural mechanisms.
Boundaries defined by frequency discontinuities require broader integration across the auditory cortex.
These findings suggest distinct neural pathways for processing different types of auditory scene information.