Sound waves (physics only) (HT only) — AQA GCSE Physics
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Sound waves (physics only) (HT only) explained
The ear is a converter: it turns pressure variations in air into vibrations of solids and then into nerve impulses.
Read the full explanation
A sound wave travelling down the ear canal makes the air pressure at the ear drum rise and fall, so the drum, a thin stretched membrane, is pushed in and out at the frequency of the wave. The drum is joined to three small bones, the ossicles, which pass the vibration on and amplify it before it reaches the fluid filled cochlea. Hair cells in the cochlea respond to those vibrations and send electrical impulses along the auditory nerve, and the brain interprets them as sound. The sensation of sound is produced in the brain, not in the ear itself. A larger amplitude gives a louder sound; a higher frequency gives a higher pitch.
Your focus
- Describe the sequence by which a sound wave in air becomes a nerve impulse, naming the ear drum and the cochlea.
- Explain why the ear drum vibrates at the same frequency as the incoming sound wave.
- Relate a change in the amplitude or the frequency of a sound wave to the change a listener notices.
Sound waves (physics only) (HT only) exam tips
Marking Points
- one mark for saying that pressure variations in the air make the ear drum vibrate
- one mark for stating that the vibration is passed on by the small bones to the cochlea
- one mark for saying that the vibration is converted into electrical impulses sent to the brain
- one mark for stating that the ear drum vibrates at the same frequency as the sound wave
Examiner Tips
- 💡Answer as a chain: air pressure variation, ear drum, small bones, cochlea, nerve impulse, brain.
- 💡Keep the word vibrate for the solid parts and pressure variation for the air, so the conversion is clear.
- 💡If the command word is explain, every link in the chain needs a reason, not just a name.
Common Mistakes
- saying the ear drum hears the sound, when the sensation is produced by the brain
- describing the sound wave itself travelling into the cochlea, rather than being converted into vibrations of solids and fluid
- confusing amplitude with frequency, so linking loudness to pitch
- stating that air particles travel from the source all the way into the ear canal