Abstract
THIS work may be regarded as a continuation of the interminable discussion regarding the functions of the cochlea, or more particularly the part of the internal ear concerned in hearing. Theories of sound perception may be divided into two classes: first, those which assume that somehow analysis takes place in the cochlea; and secondly, those that relegate the analysis to the brain. The first theory also assumes that the principle of sympathetic resonance is the foundation of the method by which the organ of Corti in the cochlea works, while the second theory, as it involves ganglion-cells and part of the brain, has no experimental basis on which to rest, and leaves the function practically insoluble. The resonance theory owes its clear inception to Thomas Young and its development to Helm-. holtz. While it explains many experimental facts, and has been supported by many physicists and physiologists, it has now and again been assailed by critics who have advanced some form of the second theory, and founded their objection to the older theory mainly on facts which apparently cannot be accounted for by the Young-Helmholtz theory.
Some Questions of Phonetic Theory.
Chap. v. The Perception of Sound. By Wilfrid Perrett. Pp. 39. (Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd., 1919.) Price 2s. net.
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M., J. Some Questions of Phonetic Theory. Nature 104, 591 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/104591a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/104591a0