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tonotopic map love

tonotopic map

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  • MaryW commented on the word tonotopic map

    The basilar membrane of the inner ear contains hair cells that are frequency selective, firing only in response to a certain band of frequencies. These are stretched out across the membrane from low frequencies to high; low-frequency sounds excite hair cells on one end of the basilar membrane, medium frequency sounds excite the hair cells in the middle, and high-frequency sounds excite them at the other end. . . . Because the different tones are spread out across the surface topography of the membrane, this is called a tonotopic map.
    Daniel J. Levitin, This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession (New York: Penguin Random House, 2007), p. 28

    June 19, 2017