In the human ear, how do different hair cells respond to different frequencies of sound?
a. Waves of pressure move through the fluid in the cochlea.
b. Hair cells are 'sandwiched' between membranes.
c. Receptor proteins in the stereocilia of each hair cell are different; each protein responds to a certain range of frequencies.
d. Because the basilar membrane varies in stiffness, it vibrates in certain places in response to certain frequencies.

Question

In the human ear, how do different hair cells respond to different frequencies of sound?

a. Waves of pressure move through the fluid in the cochlea.

b. Hair cells are 'sandwiched' between membranes.

c. Receptor proteins in the stereocilia of each hair cell are different; each protein responds to a certain range of frequencies.

d. Because the basilar membrane varies in stiffness, it vibrates in certain places in response to certain frequencies.

Accepted Answer

Welcome back. Here's the next question. How do fish and amphibians detect the water movement around them? Well let's recall from our content video to check water movement. Um aquatic vertebrates like fish and amphibians have a special system called the lateral line system. And this is a tactile sense organ, tactile meaning sense of touch that detects movement and pressure changes in surrounding water. And these changes are detected by hair cells. And you can see the evolutionary advantage to the system. There's often very low visibility in water. So having this other system that allows them to detect movement and pressure changes would obviously help them to evade predators or to find prey. So when we look at our answer choices we see that we're looking for Choice D. Which is through the hair cells of their lateral line system. We'll just take a glance at our other answer choices. Choice A. Says through the use taking tube that is corrected to their brain. Well in humans we think of hair cells or an animal's uh in our ears that detect sound waves and convey that information to our brain. But in this case talking about these aquatic vertebrates, we're talking about a tactile sense organ with hair cells, the lateral line system. So Choice A. Is not our answer for this particular um detection of water movement. Choice B says through the light sensitive receptor proteins. Well again they're not sensing changes in light. There is a tactile sense sensing movement and pressure changes. So Choice B is not our answer. And then Choice C. Says through the smell mediated by olfactory receptors. Again, this is a tactile sense, not a sense of smell. So fish and amphibians detect the water movement around them, Choice D. Through the hair cells of their lateral line system. See you in the next video.

Verified video answer for a similar problem:

Key Concepts

Cochlea Function

Basilar Membrane

Stereocilia and Receptor Proteins