Episode 19: The Neuroscience of your Ears and Super Loud Rock Concerts

Welcome back!

This week, I want to talk about your ears and how going to super loud concerts can impact your ability to hear. You might be thinking wait - ears aren’t brains. But the way we process sound in our ears is a part of the peripheral nervous system so I say close enough!

Come and listen to learn a little bit more about your auditory system, your peripheral nervous system,  hair cells, and the absolutely insane feat of biological engineering that allows for sound to go from your surroundings to your brain.

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Citations  below:

The Physics Classroom. Sound Waves as Pressure Waves. Physicsclassroom.com. Published 2019. https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/sound/u11l1c.cfm

How the Ear Works. www.hopkinsmedicine.org. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/how-the-ear-works#:~:text=The%20Inner%20Ear

Petitpré C, Wu H, Sharma A, et al. Neuronal heterogeneity and stereotyped connectivity in the auditory afferent system. Nature Communications. 2018;9(1). doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06033-3

Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, et al. The Auditory Cortex. Nih.gov. Published 2016. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10900/

Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, et al. The Inner Ear. Nih.gov. Published 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10946/

Ruggero MA. Responses to sound of the basilar membrane of the mammalian cochlea. Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 1992;2(4):449-456. doi:10.1016/0959-4388(92)90179-o

Wagner EL, Shin JB. Mechanisms of Hair Cell Damage and Repair. Trends in Neurosciences. 2019;42(6):414-424. doi:10.1016/j.tins.2019.03.006

Youm I, Li W. Cochlear hair cell regeneration: an emerging opportunity to cure noise-induced sensorineural hearing loss. Drug Discovery Today. 2018;23(8):1564-1569. doi:10.1016/j.drudis.2018.05.001

Santaolalla F, Salvador C, Martínez A, Sánchez JM, del Rey AS. Inner ear hair cell regeneration: A look from the past to the future. Neural Regeneration Research. 2013;8(24):2284-2289. doi:10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2013.24.008

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