Equilibrium: Visual System and Ear Drum Essay examples

Submitted By zrod2
Words: 486
Pages: 2

Vision, hearing, and equilibrium all play important roles in the body, through awareness, balance, and visual aspects. Each area has designated parts and structures that help to bring these processes into action.
The pathway and structures of the ear is as follows: Vision is created by photoreceptors in the retina called cones and rods. Cones are responsible for responding to bright light, sharpness of vision, and color perception. Rods are responsible for vision in poor light. The two photoreceptors allow for light to pass through, and send nerve impulses by way of the optic nerve. The optic nerve is responsible for sending impulses to the brain from the retina. Before nerve impulses reach the brain it must first pass through the optic chiasm; which is the “X” shaped structure that is just below the brain in which the two optic nerves cross over each other, this can also be called the optic tract. The next step would be the lateral geniculate nucleus, or the LGN. The LGN is what processes visual information that came from the retina. It can be found in the thalamus of the brain. The Meyer’s loop are axons that are being carried from the thalamus to the primary visual cortex.
Next is the ear, which involves the outer ear collecting sound waves. This sound then travels through the ear canal, this then leads to the ear drum. The ear drum is a part in the middle ear that vibrates due to sound waves. The middle ear is the central cavity of the ear that sits behind the ear drum. This vibrations are then carried to what is called the cochlea. The cochlea is the spiral cavity of the inner ear that contains the corti, which produces nerve impulses in result of the vibrations. These vibrations are sent to the medial geniculate nucleus, or MGN. The MGN is a part of the thalamus and carries its information to the auditory cortex.

Equilibrium is balance, or having equal adjustments among