An introduction to the mechanics of hearing

This essay looks at the human ear and the physics involved in converting the acoustical pressure or a sound
into a nervous response. The complexity of the ear is quite astounding when all its functions are considered
and even when only looking at it from an auditory processing point of view its abilities are often not as
appreciated as well as other senses. The essay will examine each part of the ear and the function they play in
successfully converting the sound into a
form the brain can process and also
auxiliary functions that are used daily but
seldom thought about.

To analyse the ear I have decided to divide
it up into three sections: The outer ear, the
middle ear and the inner ear visible in figure
1. The outer ear consists of the pinna, the
flap of tissue we call the ear and the
auditory canal. The middle ear is the section
of ear extending from the tympanic
membrane or ear drum to the oval window.
The inner ear looks at the oval window and
its relation to the cochlea. Each of these
three parts all play a distinctly different role in the sound conversion process as well as interesting functions
that they would not on first glance appear to have any hand in.

The Outer Ear and Sound Localisation

The outer ear consists of the auditory canal and the pinna. The pinna is the outer flap of tissue and it is with
distinct patterns of ridges and crevasses. Its main role is to reflect sound into the auditory canal so it can move
down through the ear and be processed however, the outer ear also plays a large role in sound localisation
due the nature of the patterns of the pinna. Sound localisation is the listeners ability to identify the location of
a sound source using only the auditory system. Humans only have two ears, generally, yet we are able to
identify sounds in three dimensions.

The method employed to measure lateral sound localisation depends on the frequency of the sound. For low
frequencies interaural time differences (ITDs) are measured. ITDs work on the principal that sound from the
right side of someone will reach their right ear before it reaches their left; the auditory system is able to
evaluate this time difference. There are 3 different ways that the auditory system is able to calculate this
time difference. If the stimulus is abrupt such as a click the onset ITDs are measured which simply means the
time difference between the sound reaching the two ears. If the stimulus is random then the transient ITD is
measured which similarly to the onset ITD is the time difference between a peak in the noise stimulus. If the
stimulus is not abrupt but periodic then an ongoing ITD is measured, this makes use of phase differences.

Imagine a sound source directly ahead of someone. The sound source is producing a sinusoidal wave at 261Hz
(roughly middle C). Currently the distance between the source is the same for each ear and the path
difference, the extra distance that the wave has to travel to reach the further ear is zero. Now as the source is
rotated around the head this path difference will vary from 0 to a maximum when the source is at 90 to the
head. This path difference corresponds to a phase difference of the tone as it reaches both ears so it is possible
from hearing the difference in phase to discern a corresponding angle for which the path difference will be
zero
[2]
.
Figure 1 - A diagram of the human outer, middle and inner ear
[1]

At higher frequencies, around 1600Hz and higher, the sound waves are much smaller than the dimensions of
the head. Determination of the direction the sound originates in cannot be achieved solely by ITD as a shorter
wavelength could repeat multiple times in the path difference, i.e. the path difference could still be zero but
the stimulus may not be directly in front of the listener. At these frequencies interaural level differences, ILDs,
are relied on more. The ILD is the relative volume or amplitude difference the listener experiences in each ear.
If the stimulus is on the right side of the head then the right ear will measure a greater amplitude compared
to the left ear. This is because of the head shadow that affects the left ear. A head shadow the region of
reduced amplitude as the sound has to travel through the head where it loses energy and therefore amplitude

[2]
.

The accuracy of human sound localisation has been estimated to be in the range of 0.75 - 2 for abrupt stimuli
(Klemm 1920, King & Laird 1930) and up to 4 for periodic stimuli (Sandel et al. 1955)
[3]
.

It may be clear that these methods alone cannot discern between a stimulus ahead of the listener to one
behind the listener and above or below the listener. This is where the shape of the outer ear becomes
important in sound localisation. A simplified way to describe the effect the pinna has is to describe the signal
at the ear drum as a combination of the sound that directly enters the ear canal and the echoes that bounce
off the folds of the pinna into the ear canal. These contributions constructively interfere at some frequencies
and destructively interfere at others. The process can now be thought of the original sound being acted on by
directional earprint before it reaches the eardrum. This pinna-induced amplification pattern or the earprint is
directionally dependent as a sound wave arriving from different angles will produce different echoes as its
angle of incidence on the folds of the pinna will be different
[4]
. These variations in the sound wave received at
the ear drum allow for the direction of a sound source to be learned by the way frequencies that are amplified
and attenuated. Interestingly as everyones pinna are individual in shape and size if you were to have someone
elses attached to you, you would not immediately be able to discern the origins of sounds as accurately. The
patterns of amplification and attenuation would be different to the ones you had learned.


The Middle Ear, sound transmission and hearing system protection

The middle ear is the portion of the ear that extends from the tympanic membrane (eardrum) to the oval
window (a small membrane that covers the entrance to the inner ear). The function of the middle ear is
twofold primarily it must convert the sound waves in the air to waves in the cochlea fluids whilst preserving
the amplitudes efficiently. Secondly it protects the hearing system from sounds loud enough to damage it.

The transfer of sound in the in the middle ear takes starts
at the ear drum, oddly it does the exact reverse of a drum
by converting sound to mechanical movement rather than
the other way around. To analyse this function of the
middle ear it is useful to think it consisting of only the four
parts required for the efficient transfer, the eardrum, the
hammer, the anvil and the stirrup to use their colloquial
names, no biologists here.

The small bones in the middle ear the hammer and anvil
are known as ossicles, they are formed in such a way that
their motion can be approximated by the lever system in
figure 2.
Figure 2 The Lever Model of the Ossicles
Hammer
(Malleus)
L
1
_
Anvil
(Incus)
L
2

Stirrup
(Stapes)
A
2

Eardrum
(Tympanic
membrane)
A
1


This system provides an effective and efficient transfer of energy in two different ways. Firstly is the lever
effect of the hammer and anvil. Basic mechanics says that the force experienced at the eardrum multiplied by
the length of the hammer must be equal to the length of the anvil multiplied by the force at the stirrup. As the
hammer is longer than the anvil the resultant force at the stirrup is greater than the force found at the
eardrum.

Secondly the stirrup has a much smaller area than the eardrum and as pressure is just force multiplied by area
the following trivial equation for the pressure at the stirrup can be found.

. In humans the ear

drum is approximately 13 times larger than the stirrup and the hammer is roughly 1.3 times longer than the
anvil. The result is that the pressure at the stirrup is roughly 16.9 times more than at the eardrum
[5]
.

Interestingly there is a third and much subtler way that the pressure increase is formed. Not visible in the
simple approximation of figure 1 but due to the ear drums conical shape. As the tympanic membrane moves
in and out it buckles which results in the hammer moving less than the surface of the membrane which
increases the force applied to it. When calculated in terms of pressure the buckling gives a factor of 2 and the
resultant pressure at the stirrup is closer to 33.8 times that of the ear drum. In this way the middle ear acts as
a impedance transformer coupling energy from low-impedance air to the higher-impedance cochlear fluids
there by reducing the reflection of sound energy that would occur otherwise
[6]
.

The middle ears secondary purpose is to provide protection to the auditory system from loud noises. Two
muscles in the middle ear known as the tensor tympani and the stapedius muscle contract automatically when
sound levels a greater than 75dB. When these muscles contract the result is a stiffening of the ossicular chain.
This stiffing reduces the efficiency with which the ossicular change can vibrate. The amplitude of any vibrations
are reduced and so vibrations arriving at the stirrup are attenuated. When the ossicular chain is stiffened the
transmitted sound can be attenuated by between 12 to 14 dB. This affect is known as the acoustical reflex. It
has been measured to take somewhere between 60 and 120ms for the muscles to contract in response to a
loud sound. For a loud abrupt sound, like firing a gun, the response is too slow to protect the hearing. In some
gunnery situations, a sound loud enough to trigger the acoustic reflect but not loud enough to damage the
hearing system is played 120ms before the gun is fired to exploit this mechanism
[5]
.

The Inner ear and critical bands

The fluid vibrations transformed from sound by the middle ear now enter the inner ear and a small snail-like
structure known as the cochlea. The cochleas function is to convert mechanical vibrations into nerve firings.
The cochlea achieves this by taking the waveform and doing a rudimentary Fourier analysis on it.

The input acoustic vibrations cause the piston like movement in the stirrup at the oval window. Beyond the
oval window is an incompressible fluid known as perilympth. The movements of stirrup cause the oval window
to move in and out. These oscillations cause travelling waves to be set up in two membranes which connect
the oval window. The basilar membrane is one of these membranes and is responsible for carrying out Fourier
analysis on the travelling waves. It is here that the sound is finally in a form that can be directly translated into
nerve impulses and sent to the brain.

The basilar membrane is an interesting structure. It is both narrow and thin at the base end of the cochlea, the
end closest to the oval window. The cochlea coils into a spiral and one moves towards the centre of the spiral
the basilar membrane becomes wider and thicker until it reaches the apex. Smaller structures respond better
to higher frequencies than larger ones do, comparing the size of a violin to a double bass and the notes
produced can show this much. The basilar membrane exploits this, it responds best to high frequencies
towards the base (where it is narrow and thin) and best to low frequencies when it is at the apex (where it is
thick and wide). The structure subsequently then separates out different frequencies from the waveform
passed to it. If a series of pure tones in decreasing frequency is played the point of maximum basilar
membrane movement will occur at different positions getting closer to apex. This is shown in figure 3.

Experiments by von Bksy (1960) have
confirmed that the point of maximum
displacement of the membrane changes
with the frequency, for a sine wave. The
relationship was also shown to be
logarithmic. The frequency scale in
figure 3 is also logarithmic to show this.

The final stage in the process is for the
separated frequencies to be transmitted
to the brain. This is done by the organ of
Corti which consists of a number of
nerve cells with tiny hairs that trigger a
nervous impulse when bent. When the
basilar membrane displaces they bend
the hair cells and the nervous impulse is
sent.

This model for hearing is known as the place theory. Formally it states that the perception of a sound and its
pitch depends on where each component frequency produces vibrations along the basilar membrane.
However, as the organ of corti doesnt have an infinite number of hairs for each part of the basilar membrane
there must be a limit to the resolution of two distinct frequencies. This lower limit of resolution is called the
critical bandwidth.

Figure 4 shows how the perception changes as the frequency of a pure tone is slowly increased or decreased
and combined with the same pure tone at a fixed frequency. Initially when the tones are at the same
frequency there is clearly no distinction between the two. As one tones frequency increases or decreases
beating occurs. Beating is when the tones add together in such a way as to create an undulation in the
amplitude of the tone. Beyond beating the combination of tones can be described as rough. This is where the
two tones cannot be
separated but they cannot be
described as in unison either.

A feeling of roughness will
continue past the point where
the two tones are defined to
be separate and only when
the critical bandwidth is
passed are two tones clearly
distinguishable. Before the
critical bandwidth but after
the tones are separate it is still possible to distinguish the tones however there is still a roughness to the them.

Figure 3 - How the Basilar membrane reacts to different frequencies
[5]
Figure 4 - How perception of two tones changes as the frequency of one is altered
[5]
The idea of roughness and beating also invoke the ideas of consonance and dissonance. The two terms mean
notes or tones that sound pleasant together and notes or tones that dont respectively. There is however no
physiological basis for consonance or dissonance. Similar to languages although there are physical,
physiological and neurological facts that put limitations on what can be created i.e. there are only so many
sounds you can make. Different cultures are able to incorporate these limitations into wildly different systems.
For example in western music beating and roughness are considered dissonant and would be referred to as
being out of tune. On the other hand cultures like the Indian tambura musicians for example consider the
same sounds to be consonant and even design instruments to achieve this affect
[7]
.

The hearing system is clearly very complex and serves many functions than just allowing us to be able to
interpret sounds. It is however still a subject for contention with two different theories for how sounds and
more specifically different pitches are registered in the brain. The place theory argues that pitch is a result of
the part of the basilar membrane that vibrates. There exists another school of thought though known as the
temporal theory. The temporal theory argues that pitch perception is a result of the time period between
nervous responses. However due to the nature of hearing being subjective it has proven difficult to construct
experiments to determine which, if either of the theories is correct. The current understanding of pitch
perception is that it is an aggregate of these two theories as they both seem to explain gaps in the opposing
theory. However much more research is required until a full model of human hearing can be completely
understood.


Bibliography

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2005

2. Griesinger, D. A General Overview of Spatial Impression Envelopment, Localisation and Externalistion.
Page 1 . proc. of the Audio Eng. Soc. 15 th Int. conference, Copenhagen, 1998.

3. Blauert, J. Spatial hearing: the psychophysics of human sound localization. 39.
ISBN: 978-0-262-02413-6, 1996.

4. Hofman, P. "On the Role of Sectral Pinna Cues in Human Sound Localization." Pages 1-11. ISBN: 909014336X,
2000.

5. Howard D. & Angus J. Acoustics and Psychoacoustics 4
th
Edition Pages 73 - 119.
ISBN: 978-0240-52175-6, 2009.

6. Pickles J. An Introduction to the Physiology of Hearing 2
nd
Edition, Pages 15 25, ISBN: 0-12-554753- 6,
1998.

7. Vassilakis, P. Auditory roughness as a Means of Musical Expression. Pages 1 & 139, ISBN: 0-88287-056-4,
2005.