How does your ear tell a high note from a low note?
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After you watchHow does your ear tell a high note from a low note?
The short answer
Different sound frequencies produce their strongest vibrations at different places along the cochlea’s basilar membrane.
Try this next
- What if the low-note patch is flattened? Use Flatten low-note patch, then test both notes before reading the comparison.
Now you — bend it
- What if Will switching the flattened patch switch which test note loses its signal?Test both notes for each patch.
Can you prove it?A damaged model patch affects the test note whose peak lands there. — Flatten each patch in turn and compare both visible signals.
Design your own test:Change only this variable and predict the result before running the model.
Explain it to a 6-year-old: A damaged model patch affects the test note whose peak lands there.
The whole story
How it works
High frequencies peak closer to the stiff base; low frequencies peak farther along toward the apex. Hair cells turn local motion into electrical signals that the brain uses, together with timing information, to interpret sound.
What people get wrong
The on/off strip is a simplified place model. Real hair cells respond across overlapping frequency ranges, and damage can affect hearing in more complicated ways. Very loud sound can permanently damage hearing.
The catch
The on/off strip is a simplified place model. Real hair cells respond across overlapping frequency ranges, and damage can affect hearing in more complicated ways. Very loud sound can permanently damage hearing.
Questions kids ask
What does this model show?
Predict whether flattening a narrow middle patch changes either test note. Inspect the intact strip, flatten the patch, and test high and low notes; then compare damage at the ends.
What does the model leave out?
The on/off strip is a simplified place model. Real hair cells respond across overlapping frequency ranges, and damage can affect hearing in more complicated ways. Very loud sound can permanently damage hearing.
Talk about it
- Which test note still signalled after one patch was flattened?
- What changed when you flattened the other patch?
For grown-ups
High frequencies peak closer to the stiff base; low frequencies peak farther along toward the apex. Hair cells turn local motion into electrical signals that the brain uses, together with timing information, to interpret sound. The on/off strip is a simplified place model. Real hair cells respond across overlapping frequency ranges, and damage can affect hearing in more complicated ways. Very loud sound can permanently damage hearing.
Keep going
What else makes you wonder?
- Which test note still signalled after one patch was flattened?
- What changed when you flattened the other patch?
