Chapter 10: Hearing & Language

A) It is the future, and because of your great success in Psychology 255 you are a neuropsychologist. Congratulations! You are assessing two patients, patient A and patient B. Neither patient tests positive for COVID19 (phew) but they each have some language deficits. Patient A speaks fluently, but the words they are saying do not make any sense, and they appear to have difficulty comprehending your speech. Patient B, however, appears to have no difficulty understanding what you say to them but has quite a bit of difficulty producing speech. 

What would you diagnose the language deficits of patient A and patient B?

Being as precise as you can (e.g., Brodmann’s area(s), sulci/gyri), describe the areas of the brain where you would expect to see damage in each case.

B) I have discovered a new feature on my apple watch. When I tap on the ‘ear’ icon I can measure the level of ambient noise around me. This feature has proven to be especially useful when both kids are yelling and screaming at me, as I am able to calmly activate the ear and show them that the noise they are making could be dangerous to my hearing if it were to be sustained much longer. This works beautifully as once they understand that their loud noises are potentially damaging, they return to speaking at a safe level. 

What perceptual dimension of sound is my apple watch measuring? What unit is used to measure this aspect of sound?

At around what level of the aforementioned units does it become potentially damaging for your hearing, i.e., the level at which my kids were screaming? When they return to their normal talking, about what level of the aforementioned units are they now at?

C) Describe the level of organization common to both the cochlea and primary auditory cortex in relation to sound frequencies. In your discussion be sure to map frequencies to anatomical locations in both areas.