Imagine you’re watching a documentary about a young musician who was born deaf – [Free] B69
Imagine you’re watching a documentary about a young musician who was born deaf but can now hear thanks to a cochlear implant. How does this device enable her to hear music? By transmitting sound information to the brain through the optic nerve By directly stimulating the auditory nerve to send sound information to the brain By stimulating the basilar membrane to send sound vibrations to the brain By bypassing the tympanic membrane to send vibrations to the ossicles
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How Cochlear Implants Enable Hearing in Individuals Born Deaf
- a) By transmitting sound information to the brain through the optic nerve
- b) By directly stimulating the auditory nerve to send sound information to the brain ✅
- c) By stimulating the basilar membrane to send sound vibrations to the brain
- d) By bypassing the tympanic membrane to send vibrations to the ossicles
Answer:
The correct answer is: By directly stimulating the auditory nerve to send sound information to the brain.
🔍 Understanding the Normal Hearing Process
To understand how a cochlear implant works, it’s helpful to know how normal hearing functions:
- Sound waves enter the ear canal
- They vibrate the tympanic membrane (eardrum)
- Vibrations pass through the middle ear bones (ossicles)
- These vibrations create fluid motion inside the cochlea
- Hair cells in the cochlea convert the vibrations into electrical signals
- The auditory nerve then sends these signals to the brain for interpretation
🦻 How a Cochlear Implant Works
In individuals who are born deaf, the hair cells within the cochlea are often damaged or missing. This is where the cochlear implant becomes essential:
- An external microphone captures surrounding sound
- The device processes these sounds and converts them into electrical signals
- These signals are sent to an internal implant with electrodes placed inside the cochlea
- The electrodes directly stimulate the auditory nerve
- The brain receives and interprets these signals as meaningful sound, such as music or speech
This process bypasses the damaged hair cells, allowing sound information to reach the brain.