If Neal Viemeister or Sid Bacon are monitoring this list, they
can tell you that they have seen this rapid adaptation at high frequencies in
psychophysical experiments, in normal-hearing people.
Beth Strickland
From: AUDITORY - Research
in Auditory Perception [mailto:AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of José
Ignacio Alcántara
Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 12:25 PM
To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: The ear dynamically adapting frequency response
Not wishing to be pedantic, but I doubt very much whether
any mobile phone transducer would have a useable frequency range extending to
16 kHz. But then again, 8 kHz would work just as well for presbyacustic
adults...
And as far as I recall, significant adaption in hearing is
relatively rare, so much so that it used to be one of the diagnostic signs of
retrocochlear (e.g. acoustic neuroma) pathology.
On 5 Feb 2009, at 17:16, Eric Jacobs wrote:
This is completely anecdotal...
As you know, kids like to put high frequency (16 kHz) ring tones on
their cell phones so that adults (ie. authority figures) with compromised
hearing cannot hear the phone ring.
Yesterday, my son asked "why is it that I can hear the first
ring loudly, but by the third or fourth ring I cannot hear it anymore?"
I didn't have an answer, of course. But if you'd like me to
investigate the phenomenon further with him, I can do that. This isn't
horribly scientific, of course, but maybe useful.
-----Original Message-----
From: AUDITORY - Research
in Auditory Perception [mailto:AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On
Behalf Of Mark Fletcher
Sent: Thursday, February
05, 2009 3:48 AM
To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: The ear
dynamically adapting frequency response
I am investigating the possibility
that the ear dynamically adapts its frequency response dependant on
environment, for example, to suppress noise. My current thinking is that the
mechanism for this adaptation is in the expanding and contracting of the outer
hair cells, restricting or exaggerating movement of the inner hair cells at
different frequencies depending on the stimuli. I would be grateful for any
input anyone may have regarding this idea.
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_______________________________________
José Ignacio Alcántara, M.A., Ph.D.
Department of Experimental
Psychology
Director of Studies in Natural Sciences (Biological)
Phone: 44
(0)1223 764412 (Department)
44
(0)1223 477170 (College)
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