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Related Concept Videos

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.

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 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.

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...

Lateralization

Lateralization

Brain lateralization refers to the division of mental processes and functions between the two hemispheres of the brain, a phenomenon that optimizes neural efficiency and underpins complex abilities in humans. This specialization allows each hemisphere to perform tasks where it has a comparative advantage, facilitating more refined cognitive capabilities across different domains.

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...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 23, 2025

Assessment of Audio-Tactile Sensory Substitution Training in Participants with Profound Deafness Using the Event-Related Potential Technique

Assessment of Audio-Tactile Sensory Substitution Training in Participants with Profound Deafness Using the Event-Related Potential Technique

Published on: September 7, 2022

Concurrent Compensation for Auditory and Visual Processing in Individuals With Single-Sided Deafness.

Yufei Qiao^1,2, Jiayan Yang^1,2, Min Zhu¹

¹Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.

Ear and Hearing

|March 11, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Single-sided deafness (SSD) enhances visual processing and alters auditory pathways, showing concurrent compensation. This study investigated visual and auditory plasticity in congenital single-sided deafness (SSD) patients.

Keywords:

Auditory-evoked potential Compensatory plasticity EEG Single-sided deafness Visual-evoked potential

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Last Updated: May 23, 2025

Assessment of Audio-Tactile Sensory Substitution Training in Participants with Profound Deafness Using the Event-Related Potential Technique

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Published on: September 7, 2022

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Published on: January 29, 2014

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

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Published on: October 29, 2018

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Auditory Neuroscience
Visual Neuroscience

Background:

Auditory deprivation can lead to enhanced visual function.
Mechanisms involve cross-modal recruitment and visual network reorganization.
Resource allocation in partial auditory deprivation is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate the relationship between visual and auditory pathway plasticity.
Examine functional reorganization in congenital single-sided deafness (SSD).

Main Methods:

Cross-sectional study of 25 congenital SSD patients and 25 normal hearing (NH) controls.
Assessed visual-evoked potentials (VEPs) and auditory-evoked potentials (AEPs).
Utilized dipole source analysis for VEPs and AEPs to measure cortical activity.

Main Results:

SSD patients showed enhanced VEP amplitude and shorter latency compared to NH controls.
AEP amplitude was greater in SSD patients than NH controls under monaural conditions.
Auditory pathways in SSD patients exhibited increased ipsilateral activity, losing typical contralateral organization.

Conclusions:

Congenital single-sided deafness (SSD) enhances neural activity and efficiency in early visual processing.
Auditory pathways in SSD patients demonstrate altered organization with increased symmetry.
Findings suggest concurrent compensatory mechanisms for both auditory and visual processing in SSD.