What is the function of the inner ear?

What is the function of the inner ear?

• A. To amplify sound waves.
• B. To transduce mechanical energy into electrical signals.
• C. To detect air pressure changes.
• D. To relay signals to auditory cortex.

Answer: (B)

Transducing mechanical energy into electrical signals is what the inner ear does. In the cochlea, hair cells with stereocilia bend when fluid and basilar-membrane motion from sound vibrations occurs. This bending opens mechanosensitive ion channels, creating a receptor potential and causing neurotransmitter release onto auditory nerve fibers. Those signals travel through the auditory pathway to the brain for perception. The inner ear itself doesn’t amplify sound (that’s mostly the middle ear’s job) or detect simple air-pressure changes (that’s the tympanic membrane and middle ear’s domain), nor does it relay information to the cortex by itself—the neural signals must be transmitted and processed along the auditory pathway first.

Transducing mechanical energy into electrical signals is what the inner ear does. In the cochlea, hair cells with stereocilia bend when fluid and basilar-membrane motion from sound vibrations occurs. This bending opens mechanosensitive ion channels, creating a receptor potential and causing neurotransmitter release onto auditory nerve fibers. Those signals travel through the auditory pathway to the brain for perception. The inner ear itself doesn’t amplify sound (that’s mostly the middle ear’s job) or detect simple air-pressure changes (that’s the tympanic membrane and middle ear’s domain), nor does it relay information to the cortex by itself—the neural signals must be transmitted and processed along the auditory pathway first.