Word: eardrum
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Three Canals. Man's external ear, even at its best, is merely decorative, and the transmission of sound waves through the canal and eardrum to the tiny vibrating bones (ossicles) is a relatively simple matter of sound mechanics. When the vibrations reach the cochlea, they are converted, by a somewhat more complex process, into electrical impulses for transmission to the brain along auditory nerves...
...human ear and in particular the cochlea, the "snail shell" of the inner ear. For research he built models, bored through the temporal bone of a corpse so that he could observe with strobe lighting the effect of sound waves on the cochlea, which is linked to the eardrum by three small, movable bones of the middle ear. What he saw was that the cochlea reacts to the pitch of a struck note by making different parts of the membrane vibrate within the tiny organ's 2½-turn canal...
...study the processes which change sound waves into electrical impulses, he built a model of the cochlea which was able to exercise selectivity in sound waves. He then tested his work by electrically stimulating the cochlea of a corpse. Gluing tiny mirrors to the eardrum and measuring its response to impulses, von Bekesy was able to measure the travelling wave as it swept past the membrane...
...pistol blast, close up, can rupture an eardrum, and similarly sudden, unexpected sounds produce widespread, potentially harmful changes in bodily activity, as the body's defensive mechanism reacts to the unknown stimulus. Blood and intracranial pressures rise, perspiration increases, muscles contract sharply, flow of saliva and gastric juices is radically reduced, and digestion ceases. Even short-term exposure to high-intensity noise-above 135 decibels-can cause a breakdown in the ear's sensitive basilar membrane...
...business, Edgar Kaiser does not let his private life get into a mold. He wears rakish Tyrolean hats, likes to drive at high speeds, operate his motor boat in the roughest seas, set off powerful firecrackers (one of which ruptured his eardrum). He often buys clothes for his wife, personally outfitted the entire wedding party of one of his three daughters, all married (he also has three sons, Edgar Jr., 17, Henry, 15, and Kim, 11, in Eastern prep schools). Whether Edgar and his wife are ensconced in their six-bedroom, Spanish-style home in Lafayette, Calif, or speeding around...