AURAL STUDIES WEEK 6 THE EAR AND THE BRAIN

Once again, I feel like I have been through a wringer at the end of this session. I find the absence of Power Point in this classroom quite pleasurable and get the distinct feeling that I have learnt a lot more as a result. This week’s offering was a fascinating continuation of our journey into the ear and beyond, into the brain. The way that the brain processes intervals and changes in timbre and amplitude is definitely interesting and whilst looking up Place Theory on the web, I came across a related subject which was also of interest, namely: how our brain determines different vowel sounds as being the same when pronounced at different pitches. If you’re interested, I recommend you have a decko at this site, HyperPhysics, which has a really good section on the physics of sound and hearing, simply presented (upper high school level) – here’s the URL: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hph.html#hph As for the in-depth examination of the organ of Corti, I now have this unshakeable idea that there are rapid firing pop-ups (like toast) occurring in my ears every time I hear anything. This disturbs me and I shall probably go mad and have to be counselled Dr Sachs. Perhaps his next book could be about me, “The Woman Who Mistook Her Ears For A Toast Rack”.