biology ear question?

Question

what is the cochlea is used for
is does it make the mecanical movement in to something that we can hear

Answer 1

close your leg please I cant hear you

Answer 2

Vibrations move through the cochlea by fluid transmissions. From the Fenestra Ovalis (Oval Window) to the auditory nerves. Cillia-like structures (Nerve Hairs) are present in the middle part of the cross-section of the cochlea.

Answer 3

The cochlea (from Greek ko·khli´as, snail) is basically a bundle of three fluid-filled ducts, or canals, coiled up in a spiral like the shell of a snail. Two of the ducts are connected at the apex of the spiral. When the oval window, at the base of the spiral, is set in motion by the stirrup, it moves in and out like a piston, setting up hydraulic pressure waves in the fluid. As these waves travel to and from the apex, they cause the walls separating the ducts to undulate.

Along one of these walls, known as the basilar membrane, is the highly sensitive organ of Corti, named after Alfonso Corti, who in 1851 discovered this true center of hearing. Its key part consists of rows of sensory hair cells, some 15,000 or more. From these hair cells, thousands of nerve fibers carry information about the frequency, intensity, and timbre of the sound to the brain, where the sensation of hearing occurs.

Answer 4

Yeh, as the person above said. And, to finish off his answer, the cilia have mechanical ion channels, so that when the cilia bend, ions flow into the cilia (Na+), and thus depolarise them. That then sets off the nerves of the vestibulochochlear nerve (VIII), as they are depolarised, and so we percieve the vibrations as sound.

Hope this helps, email any q's

Ashley