Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/615

593 EAR 593 In the next place, vibrations must have a certain duration to be perceived ; and lastly, to excite a sensation of a con tinuous musical sound, a certain number of vibrations must occur in a given interval of time. The lower limit is about 30, and the upper about 30,000 vibrations per second. Below 30, the individual impulses may be observed, and above 30,000 few ears can detect any sound at all. The extreme upper limit is not more than 35,000 vibrations per second. Auditory sensations are of two kinds noises and musical sounds. Noises are caused by impulses which are not regular in intensity or duration, or are not periodic, or they may be caused by a series of musical sounds occurring instantaneously so as to pro duce discords, as when we place our hand at random on the key-board of a piano. Musical tones are produced by periodic and regular vibrations. In musical sounds three characters are prominent intensity, pitch, and quality. Intensity depends on the amplitude of the vibration, and a greater or lesser amplitude of the vibration will cause a cor responding movement of the transmitting apparatus, and a corresponding intensity of excitation of the terminal apparatus. Pitch, as a sensation, depends on the length of time in which a single vibration is executed, or, in other words, the number of vibrations in a given interval of time. The ear is capable of appreciating the relative pitch or height of a sound as compared with another, although it may not as certain precisely the absolute height of a sound. What we call an acute or high tone is produced by a large number of vibrations, while a grave or low tone is caused by few. The musical tones which can be used with advantage range be tween 40 and 4000 vibrations per second, extending thus from 6 to 7 octaves. According to E. H. Weber, practised musicians can perceive a difference of pitch amounting even to only the ^ T th of a semitone, but this is far beyond average attainment. Quality or timbre (or Klang] is that peculiar characteristic of a musical sound by which we may identify it as proceeding from a particular instrument or from a particular human voice. It depends on the fact that many waves of sound that reach the ear are really com pound wave systems, built up of constituent waves, each of which is capable of exciting a sensation of a simple tone if it be singled out and reinforced by a resonator (see ACOUSTICS), and which may sometimes be heard without a resonator, after special practice and tuition. Thus it appears that the ear must have some arrangement by which it resolves every wave system, however complex, into simple peudular vibrations. When we listen to a sound of any quality we recognize that it is of a certain pitch. This depends on the number of vibrations of one tone, predomin ant in intensity over the others, called the fundamental or ground tone, or first partial tone. The quality, or timbre, depends on the number and intensity of other tones added to it. These are termed harmonic or partial tones, and they are related to the first partial or fundamental tone in a very simple manner, being multiples of the fundamental tone: thus Funda mental Tone. Lpper Pavtials or Harmonics. Notes ........... do 1 do 2 sol 2 do 3 mi 3 sol 3 sib 3 do 4 re 4 mi 4 Partial tones.. 1 23456789 10 33 6G 132 165 198 231 297 33 ^ When a simple tone, or one free from partials, is heard, it gives rise to a simple, soft, somewhat insipid sensation, as may be obtained by blowing across the mouth of an open bottle or by a tuning fork. The lower partials added to the fundamental tone give softness combined with richness ; while the higher, especially if they be very high, produce a brilliant and thrilling effect, as is caused by the brass in struments of an orchestra. Such being the facts, how may they be explained physiologically ? Little is yet known regarding the mode of action of the vibrations of the fluid in the labyrinth upon the terminal apparatus connected with the auditory nerve. There can be no doubt that it is a mechanical action, a true communi cation of impulses to delicate hair-like processes, by the movements of which the nervous filaments are irritated. In the human ear it has been estimated that there are about 3000 small arches formed by the rods of Corti (see ANATOMY). Each arch rests on the basilar membrane, and supports rows of cells having minute hair-like processes somewhat resembling cilia. It would appear also that the filaments of the auditory nerve terminate in the basilar membrane, and possibly they may be connected with the hair-cells. At one time it was supposed by Helmholtz that these fibres of Corti were elastic and that they were tuned for particular sounds, so as to form a regular series corre* ponding to all the tones audible to the human ear. Thus 2800 fibres distributed over the tones of seven octaves would give 400 fibres for each octave, or nearly 33 for a semitone. Helmholtz has put forward the ingenious hypothesis that, when a pendular vibration reaches the ear, it excites by sympathetic vibration the fibre of Corti which is tuned for its proper number of vibrations. If, then, different fibres are tuned to tones of different pitch, it is evident that we have here a mechanism which, by exciting different nerve fibres, will give rise to sensations of pitch. When the vibration is not simple but compound, in con sequence of the blending of vibrations corresponding to various harmonics or partial tones, the ear has the power of resolving this compound vibration into its elements. It can only do so by different fibres responding to the con stituent vibrations of the sound, one for the fundamental tone being stronger, and giving the sensation of a particular pitch or height to the sound, and the others, corresponding to the upper partial tones, being weaker, and causing special though undefined sensations, which are so blended together in consciousness as to terminate in a complex sensation of a tone of a certain quality or timbre. It would appear at first sight that 33 fibres of Corti for a semitone are not sufficient to enable us to detect all the gradations of pitch in that interval, since, as has been stated above, trained musicians may distinguish a difference of g jth of a semitone. To meet this difficulty, Helmholtz states that if a sound is produced, the pitch of which may be supposed to come between two adjacent fibres of Corti, both of these will be set into sympathetic vibration, but the one which comes nearest to the pitch of the sound will vibrate with greater intensity than the other, and that consequently the pitch of that sound would be thus appreciated. These theoretical views of Helmholtz have derived much support from remarkable experiments of Hensen, who observed that certain hairs on the antennas of Mysis, a Crustacean, when observed with a low miscroscopic power, vibrated with certain tones produced by a keyed horn. It was seen that certain tones of the horn set some hairs into strong vibration, and other tones other hairs. Each hair responded also to several tones of the horn. Thus one hair responded strongly to d and d&quot;$, more weakly to g, and very weakly to G. It was probably tuned to some pitch between d&quot; and d&quot;. (Studien iiber das Gehororgan dcr Decapoden^ Leipsic, 1863.) Recent histological researches have led to a modification of this hypothesis. It has been found that the rods or arches of Corti are stiff structures, not adapted for vibre*-- ing, but apparently consisting of a kind of support for the hair cells. It is also known that there are no rods of Corti in the cochlea of birds, which apparently are capable never theless of appreciating pitch. Hensen and Helmholtz have now suggested the view that not only may the segments of the membrana basilaris be stretched more in the radial thai&amp;gt; VTI. 7 &amp;lt;