Psychology 1100Introduction to Psychology

Christopher Gade, PhDOffice: Bertrand 27

Office hours: MW 1:30-3:30 and by apt Email: christopher.gade@dominican.edu

Class MW 9:25-10:40 Angelico 226

The Other Senses: Hearing

The properties of sound and the basics of the ear.

Listening Exercise

• Put your books, pens, pencils, phones, and all other items down.

• Close your eyes.

• Listen!

• What is it that you’re hearing?

Life Without Hearing

• What are some of the things that we would miss out on if we couldn’t hear?

• What are some of the things that we would miss out on if we couldn’t see?

• Which would you rather lose, hearing or vision? Why?

Is Hearing Physical or Perceptual?• Physical Definition of Sound: A

change in pressure of the air or other physical medium.

• Perceptual Definition of Sound: An experience of “sound waves” by the ear or other perceptual medium.

• Sound Properties– Sound Wave: A sudden change in

MOLECULE pressure– Boat Example

More Properties of Sound• Amplitude: The

concentration of the air pressure. Determines the “loudness” of the sound.– Decibel =

20log(p/po) (po= pressure medium for air, it = 20)

More Properties of Sound• Frequency: The rate

of sound wave occurrences. Determines the “pitch” of the sound.– Sound frequency

is measured byHertz (Hz). 1 Hz =1 cycle per second.

The Equal Loudness Curve and Audibility

Curve

What’s the loudness button on your stereo doing?

The Ear, Our Sound Wave Detector

The Benefits of the Pinna Listening Task1. Form a circle2. Each of you will participate in this at least once.3. Participating individuals need to…

1. Stand in the center of the group and close their eyes2. Locate an object based on its orientation (front, back

right, left), distance (close, far), and properties (high, low)

1. Covering one ear2. Covering your ears3. Cupping your ears

Auditory Localization

How it works…• Level/clarity differences• Spectral cues– Hoffman’s pinnae mold experiment– Surround sound implications

Another Cue…• Visual Capture – our vision’s tendency to

dominate our mind’s interpretation of sound location.

The Inner Ear

A Closer Look at the Cochlear Duct

Moving on…

• In our next section, we’ll examine the topic of touch… come to class awake and clean… this will make better sense when we get going.