full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Douglas L. Oliver: The science of hearing

Unscramble the Blue Letters


A sound from directly in front of you will reach both your ears at the same time. You’ll also hear it at the same intensity in each ear. However, a low-frequency sonud coming from one side will rceah the near ear monercdscios before the far one. And high-frequency sdouns will sound more intense to the near ear because they’re blocked from the far ear by your head.

These strands of information reach scipael parts of the brtineasm that analyze time and intensity differences between your ears. They send the results of their analysis up to the auditory cortex. Now, the brain has all the information it needs: the ptraetns of activity that tell us what the sound is, and information about where it is in space.

Open Cloze


A sound from directly in front of you will reach both your ears at the same time. You’ll also hear it at the same intensity in each ear. However, a low-frequency _____ coming from one side will _____ the near ear ____________ before the far one. And high-frequency ______ will sound more intense to the near ear because they’re blocked from the far ear by your head.

These strands of information reach _______ parts of the _________ that analyze time and intensity differences between your ears. They send the results of their analysis up to the auditory cortex. Now, the brain has all the information it needs: the ________ of activity that tell us what the sound is, and information about where it is in space.

Solution


  1. sounds
  2. patterns
  3. sound
  4. brainstem
  5. special
  6. reach
  7. microseconds

Original Text


A sound from directly in front of you will reach both your ears at the same time. You’ll also hear it at the same intensity in each ear. However, a low-frequency sound coming from one side will reach the near ear microseconds before the far one. And high-frequency sounds will sound more intense to the near ear because they’re blocked from the far ear by your head.

These strands of information reach special parts of the brainstem that analyze time and intensity differences between your ears. They send the results of their analysis up to the auditory cortex. Now, the brain has all the information it needs: the patterns of activity that tell us what the sound is, and information about where it is in space.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
basilar membrane 4
tiny bones 2
bone called 2


Important Words


  1. activity
  2. analysis
  3. analyze
  4. auditory
  5. blocked
  6. brain
  7. brainstem
  8. coming
  9. cortex
  10. differences
  11. ear
  12. ears
  13. front
  14. head
  15. hear
  16. information
  17. intense
  18. intensity
  19. microseconds
  20. parts
  21. patterns
  22. reach
  23. results
  24. send
  25. side
  26. sound
  27. sounds
  28. space
  29. special
  30. strands
  31. time