Something's AuD in Here
Audiologists are healthcare professionals that _____ and _____ hearing and vestibular disorders.
a. Diagnose
b. Treat
The peripheral auditory system consists of three primary parts. These are the ____ _____ _____, the _____ _____ _____, and the _____ _____ _____.
a. Outer Ear System
b. Middle Ear System
c. Inner Ear System
The border between the outer and the middle ear systems is called the ______ ______. This structure is also often called the ______ ______, because of its functional resemblance to that type of instrument. A hole through this structure is called a ______.
a. Tympanic membrane
b. Ear drum
c. Perforation
The inner ear system is a beautiful and complex set of structures that reside deep in the _______ bone of the skull. This system houses the primary sensory structures for both _______ and _______.
a. Temporal
b. Hearing
c. Balance (or Vestibular function)
The sensory cells of hearing (housed within the Organ of Corti) are called the _______ and the _______. There are far more _______ than _______.
a. Inner Hair Cells
b. Outer Hair Cells
c. OHCs
d. IHCs
Many military personnel came back from the battlefields of _________ with hearing impairment. Thus, the discipline of audiology began its emergence, primarily in ______ hospitals.
a. World War II
b. VA/Military
The auditory system can be thought of as an energy transducer (similar to a microphone). Acoustic energy is first converted to _____ _____, and then is converted to _____ _____ that can be processed by the central nervous system.
a. Mechanical energy (mechanical vibrations)
b. Electrochemical energy/neural energy
Sound travels much more easily in _____ than it does in ______. This problem in the ease of travel for sound through these mediums is called an ______ mismatch, which is what the pressure amplification of the ______ ______ ______ helps to overcome.
a. Air
b. Fluid
c. Impedance
d. Middle ear system
The inner ear is filled with two specific types of non-compressible fluid. These fluids are called _______ and _______. One of these fluids is very similar to _______ (another extremely prevalent fluid in the nervous system), while the other has a composition that is unique to the inner ear.
a. Endolymph
b. Perilymph
c. Cerebrospinal fluid
The Inner Hair Cells are the primary _______ receptors for hearing, meaning that they send information from the peripheral system to the central nervous system. The Outer Hair Cells are primarily _______, and have _______ qualities that help with hearing low-level sounds and improve frequency resolution.
a. Afferent
b. Efferent
c. Active, Motile
Hearing loss has been deemed a serious public health issue in the US. This is because the population is ______ rapidly, and hearing loss has been shown to be significantly associated with _______ _______.
a. Aging
b. Cognitive Decline/Incident Dementia
The conductive pathway is composed of the _____ _____ and _____ _____. This system is important, because without it acoustic energy (traveling in air) would not match the ______ of the non-compressible cochlear fluids.
a. Outer ear
b. Middle ear
c. Impedance
The middle ear system can be thought of as a “biological” or “mechanical” amplifier. It does this via three physical processes. Two of these processes are the _____________, and the _____________.
a. Area Ratio Advantage
b. Lever Action
c. Curved Membrane effect
The inner ear system is responsible for encoding the properties of the sound waves of our environment. These essential properties for perceiving and interpreting sound include _______, _______, and _______.
a. Frequency
b. Amplitude
c. Timing
The traveling wave of pressure variation in the cochlear fluids moves from the _______ of the cochlea (closest to the stapes footplate) to the _______ (end) of the cochlea. Different parts of the basilar membrane respond best to (or encode) different frequencies in a piano-like manner. This is called _______, and is maintained all the way up the auditory pathways to the auditory cortex.
a. Base
b. Apex
c. Tonotopic Organization
Hearing loss is ____ prevalent in children than it is in older adults. The most common hearing loss that occurs in children is related to ____ build up in the ____ ear system.
a. less
b. fluid
c. middle
The sensorineural system is composed of the _____ _____, the _____ _____ _____, and beyond. This system is important, because without it mechanical energy would not be converted to _____ _____ for the central nervous system to process. In hearing tests, we use _____ conduction sounds to test the sensorineural system by bypassing the conductive system.
a. Inner ear
b. VIIIth Cranial Nerve (aka auditory nerve, vestibulocochlear nerve, etc.)
c. Electrochemical energy/neural energy
d. bone
There are two muscles that attach to the ossicles of the middle ear system (called the tensor tympani and stapedius muscle). The three ossicles are the ________, ________, and ________. When the middle ear muscles contract, they ________ the ossicular chain, causing ________ energy to be delivered to the inner ear. This acoustic reflex helps _____ the delicate inner ear.
a. Malleus
b. Incus
c. Stapes
d. Stiffen (tighten)
e. Less
f. Protect
The _______ _______ forms the interface between the ossicular chains rocking vibration and the cochlear fluids. The ossicular component that attaches to this important membrane is called the _______. The _______ _______ serves as a membranous pressure release valve to allow for the displacement of the non-compressible cochlear fluids.
a. Oval Window
b. Stapes Footplate
c. Round Window
HIGH frequency sounds are encoded at the _____ and LOW frequency sounds are encoded at the _____. The stiffness of the basilar membrane is _____ at the base, and decreases as you move from base to apex. These physical properties mimic the properties of vibrating objects that makes sound (such as musical instruments).
a. base
b. apex
c. greatest
Hearing loss causes a lack of access to the important acoustic signals of the environment. This is particularly problematic for young children, who are going through critical periods of development for _____ and _____.
a. Speech
b. Language
The outer ear system collects and directs (or “conducts”) sound to the middle ear. It is also very important because it _____ certain sound frequencies that are important for hearing. These frequencies range from about _____ - _____ Hz, and are essential for ______ perception.
a. Amplifies
b. 2000 - 5000 Hz
c. Consonant
The primary purposes of the ________ is to supply fresh air to the middle ear space (i.e., to equalize the air pressure on both sides of the tympanic membrane for optimal sound transmission), as well as to drain any ________ that builds up in the middle ear space. In children, this structure is more ________, which leads to a greater chance of fluid buildup in the middle ear.
a. Eustachian Tube
b. Fluid
c. Horizontal
The _______ is the primary sensory receptor for hearing (like the retina is for the eye :) ). This intricate cellular structure sits on top of the _______. The gelatinous roof-like structure that sits above this organ is called the _______.
a. Organ of Corti
b. Basilar Membrane
c. Tectorial Membrane
Most hearing tests set out to differentiate between problems in the _____ system, the _____, or both. They do this by comparing how well someone hears sounds by _____, with how well they hear sounds by _____.
a. Conductive
b. Sensorineural
c. Air conduction
d. Bone conduction