Week 8 – auditory and vestibular systems
This week was about the auditory and vestibular systems. It was very fascinating to learn about the detailed process of how sound waves are processed in the ear and brain and how we can easily understand these complex sounds like music. Especially the function of cochlea and the basal membrane is astonishing. How can the inner hair cells respond to such small details without the information being mixed with random noise.
The human vestibular system is also super interesting. The semicircular canal system consists of three ring-shaped structures oriented in right angles to each other that contain fluid (endolymph) and by the movement of the fluid in each ring, humans can sense orientations in three dimensions. What we found astonishing is the speed at which this information is processed. If we were to quickly tilt our heads or accidentally begin to fall off balance, we almost instantly realize what’s happening and our muscles contract accordingly by signals from the vestibular system. As at the previous weeks, it was interesting to follow the lecture of the week. Good structure and a big amount of pictures and videos make it easy to understand the topic. It is so nice to have live lectures again!
Responses