Q 01/05

Which bone of the middle ear, nicknamed the stirrup, is the smallest bone in the human body?

A) Malleus

B) Incus

C) Stapes

D) Hyoid

Answer · why

C) Stapes

Stapes is the Latin word for stirrup, and the bone is also the lightest in the human body.

Q 02/05

Which football tradition began at Gallaudet University so that rival teams could not read the deaf players' signs?

A) The huddle

B) The forward pass

C) The snap count

D) The coin toss

Answer · why

A) The huddle

The huddle dates to the 1890s, when deaf player Paul Hubbard gathered his teammates in a circle to hide his signing from opponents.

Q 03/05

Which founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA went deaf in one ear after a grain of wedding rice lodged there?

A) Clara Barton

B) Juliette Gordon Low

C) Jane Addams

D) Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Answer · why

B) Juliette Gordon Low

Juliette Gordon Low already had partial hearing loss, and removing the rice thrown at her wedding punctured her eardrum.

Q 04/05

Which gas makes a voice sound squeaky because sound travels nearly three times faster through it than through air?

A) Neon

B) Argon

C) Nitrogen

D) Helium

Answer · why

D) Helium

Helium raises the resonant frequencies of the vocal tract, while the vocal folds themselves keep vibrating at the same pitch.

Q 05/05

Which Looney Tunes character got his stutter from a first voice actor who really did stutter?

A) Daffy Duck

B) Porky Pig

C) Elmer Fudd

D) Bugs Bunny

Answer · why

B) Porky Pig

Porky Pig was first voiced by Joe Dougherty, whose uncontrollable stutter made recording sessions drag on for hours.