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7.1 Acoustic Cues and Signals

1.
Which of the following is an example of an auditory signal?
  1. A bird’s song.
  2. Water splashing in a creek.
  3. Wind blowing through the leaves of a tree.
  4. The buzz of a mosquito’s wings.
2 .
Why is the sense of hearing especially valuable for communication?
  1. Because sound is only detected at short distances.
  2. Because sound can travel long distances and around obstacles.
  3. Because hearing is more reliable than other senses.
  4. Because only sound can carry information about the identity of individuals.
3.
What does the frequency of an acoustic wave measure?
  1. How fast air molecules are displaced.
  2. How much the air pressure changes between compression and rarefaction.
  3. How rapidly the air pressure changes between compression and rarefaction.
  4. How often an animal produces a sound over the course of a day.
4 .
The perception of pitch is primarily related to:
  1. the amplitude of a sound.
  2. the frequency of a sound.
  3. whether the sound is periodic or aperiodic.
  4. the phase of the sound.
5.
The ability of sound waves to travel around solid objects is known as:
  1. reverberation.
  2. diffraction.
  3. resonance.
  4. interference.

7.2 How Does Acoustic Information Enter the Brain?

6 .
Which middle ear bone is connected to the tympanic membrane?
  1. The malleus
  2. The incus
  3. The stapes
  4. The tensor tympani
7.
Which part of the ear separates complex sounds into component frequencies?
  1. The Organ of Corti
  2. The basilar membrane
  3. The scala vestibuli
  4. The tectorial membrane
8 .
What is the function of the inner hair cells in the cochlea?
  1. To convert the physical energy of acoustic waves into neural signals.
  2. To protect the cochlea from overstimulation.
  3. To amplify low-intensity sounds.
  4. To regulate the pressure within the cochlea.
9.
Which of the following is a common cause of conductive hearing loss?
  1. Damage to stereocilia by high-intensity sounds
  2. Damage to the auditory nerve
  3. Death of hair cells from ototoxic antibiotics
  4. Infection of the middle ear
10 .
All of the axons in the auditory nerve form synapses in the:
  1. medial superior olive.
  2. cochlear nucleus.
  3. inferior colliculus.
  4. spiral ganglion.
11.
Which region in the auditory pathway only receives input from the contralateral ear?
  1. The cochlear nucleus
  2. The lateral superior olive
  3. The medial geniculate body
  4. None of the above
12 .
Which brain region is involved in comparing the relative timing of sounds between the two ears?
  1. The lateral superior olive
  2. The nucleus of the trapezoid body
  3. The medial superior olive
  4. The inferior colliculus
13.
What is the role of the medial geniculate body in the ascending auditory pathway?
  1. It is the primary gateway for auditory information to reach the cortex.
  2. It forms synapses with the outer hair cells of the cochlea.
  3. It determines the location of sound sources using differences in timing and level of stimuli.
  4. It integrates auditory, visual, and somatosensory input to create a unified map of space relative to head location.
14 .
A tonotopic organization of auditory information is found in:
  1. the cochlea.
  2. the cochlear nucleus.
  3. the primary auditory cortex.
  4. All of the above

7.3 How Does the Brain Process Acoustic Information?

15.
The azimuth of a sound source refers to:
  1. the elevation of a sound source.
  2. the angle left or right on a horizontal plane.
  3. the distance of a sound source.
  4. the perceptual contents of a sound source.
16 .
What are interaural timing and level differences used to determine?
  1. The elevation of a sound source
  2. The azimuth of a sound source
  3. The distance of a sound source
  4. The perceptual contents of a sound source
17.
What is the function of a coincidence detector in the auditory system?
  1. To determine the distance of a sound source.
  2. To compare the timing difference between inputs from the two ears.
  3. To compare the difference in level of inputs from the two ears.
  4. To identify whether a sound source is periodic or aperiodic.
18 .
Memories of complex sounds are thought to be stored in:
  1. the inferior colliculus.
  2. the medial geniculate body.
  3. the hippocampus.
  4. the auditory cortex.
19.
A group of speech sounds that can be used interchangeably is called a:
  1. phoneme.
  2. lexeme.
  3. phone.
  4. syllable.
20 .
What change occurs in phonetic perception between the ages of 6 months and 9-12 months in human infants?
  1. Infants learn to discriminate between all phonemes regardless of their native language.
  2. Infants become better at discriminating phonemes in the language of their parents or caregivers and worse at discriminating phonemes not found in that language.
  3. They lose the ability to distinguish phonemes.
  4. They start speaking in their native language.

7.4 Balance: A Sense of Where You Are

21.
Which structure within the vestibular system is responsible for sensing the dynamic forces created by angular movements?
  1. The cochlea
  2. The semicircular canals and ampullae
  3. The utricle and saccule
  4. The otoliths
22 .
The utricle and saccule are primarily responsible for sensing:
  1. linear movements and the direction of gravity.
  2. pitch and roll.
  3. the low frequencies in sound waves.
  4. static pressure differences in the middle ear.
23.
Ascending axons from the vestibular ganglion form synapses in the:
  1. cerebellum.
  2. oculomotor nucleus.
  3. medial superior olive.
  4. vestibular nuclear complex.
24 .
Which of the following is a characteristic of vestibular reflexes?
  1. They are among the slowest in the body.
  2. They are among the fastest in the body.
  3. They are complex and involve a large number of synapses.
  4. They are only found in primitive mammals.
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