AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Vestibular and auditory system8/30/2023 Maintaining postural equilibrium, sensing movement, and maintaining an awareness of the relative location of our body parts requires the precise integration of several of the body's sensory and response systems including visual, vestibular, somatosensory (touch, pressure, and stretch receptors in our skin, muscles, and joints), and auditory. How does the human body sense and control the movement so precisely? How do we maintain balance while putting ourselves through a wide variety of spinning and tumbling activities that are inherently "unbalancing"? When we are in motion, how do we know in what direction and at what speed we are moving? How do these important body senses change or adapt when we fly in an aircraft or enter the microgravity environment of low Earth orbit? Can these sensory and response systems, which work so well here on Earth, provide us with inaccurate and potentially harmful information when we fly as pilots or astronauts? Let's find out! all (usually) without losing balance and while keeping track of the relative position of arms and legs with respect to the rest of the body. Human beings have the ability to walk a tight rope, do repeated pirouettes in a ballet performance, combine twists and turns when diving, or perform triple toe loops while ice skating. The human body has a remarkable ability to sense and determine the direction and speed in which it is moving and maintain balance (postural equilibrium). It is our ability to sense body movement combined with our ability to maintain balance (equilibrium). One of the most powerful of the other senses is the vestibular sense, provided by the vestibular system. (Touch itself includes heat, cold, pressure, and pain.) Actually, there are many other senses - hunger, thirst, kinesthetic, etc. We are all familiar with the question, "How many senses do humans have?" The answer we hear most often is five: sight, taste, smell, hearing, and touch. If our senses are not providing us with reliable information, we may take an action which is inappropriate for the circumstances and this could lead to injury or death. Organisms, including humans, must sense accurately before they can react, thus ensuring survival. All living organisms on Earth have the ability to sense and respond appropriately to changes in their internal and external environment. The presence of sensory and response systems is a universal attribute of life as we know it. How does the human body maintain a sense of body position and balance on Earth, while flying in an airplane, or traveling through space?
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |