Tinnitus is a persistent ringing or buzz (or sometimes other sounds) that only the sufferer can hear. In extreme cases, the eardrum will become damaged.Ĭhanges in altitude, scuba diving, or driving mountain roads can also contribute to pressure build-up in the ear and can be alleviated by swallowing, which opens the eustachian tubes. When the tubes are blocked through congestion of various causes, the pressure cannot be equalized. Inner and middle ear pressure is normally the same as on the outside of the body, and is regulated by the two eustachian tubes that connect the middle ear with the back of the throat.
The eardrum can also be damaged when a build-up of pressure occurs. The eardrum can be damaged by an extreme sound that causes a rupture, lessening the ability to hear. Interestingly, this can make the sentence “what time is it” sound exactly like “what kind is it” because consonants are more high-pitched than vowels.Įxcessive buildup of earwax can cause hearing loss as the substance literally blocks the passage of soundwaves onto the sensitive structures. More specifically, an overload of high-pitched sound can damage the hair cells in the cochlea, making it difficult or impossible to hear sounds of higher frequencies. Even young people are suffering this type of hearing loss from the volume being too high on their personal listening devices. Damage is exacerbated by frequent exposure to loud noise as well. The progressive loss of hair cells reduces the kind and range of sounds that can be heard. Gradual hearing loss is a normal part of aging for many. Like many things, hearing does not come with a lifetime guarantee. Different positioning of the ears in some non-human creatures allows for even more refined directional perception, such as for various species of owls who hunt in the dark. The brain also coordinates the signals from the two ears, giving us directional interpretation. This selective hearing is not well understood but seems to diminish with age.Įven while sleeping, this selective hearing continues, enabling you to sleep through some inconsequential noises, but waking you to the ring of an alarm clock or a crying baby. The brain also has the capacity to zero in on certain sounds such as one instrument in a band or one voice at a crowded party. The melodies, harmonies, and rhythms of music are engaged by a wide spectrum of brain structures governing movement, emotion, and memory, as well as language. Small children who hear more words early on tend to be more efficient learners.
The human auditory complex, while not possessing the greatest range of sound frequencies available for interpretation, does have special properties for hearing and interpreting language and music, two things considered to be uniquely human. This vibration stimulates the cochlea’s lining of thousands of tiny hair cells, which turn the sound waves into electrical impulses that are then transmitted to the brain for interpretation via the auditory nerve. The cochlea is a roughly snail-shaped organ inside which the converted sound waves vibrate. The function of this miniscule bony chain (you may remember the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup from your school days) is to convert sound waves into a form that can be absorbed by the watery fluid in the inner ear, or cochlea.
#Lend me your ears series
The accepted sounds set off another series of vibration refinements in the “ossicles”, or three tiny bones in the middle ear. Like the doorman at an exclusive club, the eardrum rejects some sound waves and accepts others.
Smaller, and less efficient than many other mammalian auricles, ours is assisted by the long, narrow ear canal which focuses the sound waves onto the tympanic membrane, also known as the eardrum. The visible part of the human ear is called the auricle, or pinna. Anatomy of the ear Like the doorman at an exclusive club, the eardrum rejects some sound waves and accepts others. The sound wave is then gathered by the outer ear and what follows is some pretty complicated physics to get that wave transformed into something the brain understands as sound. This wave causes particles to vibrate in the surrounding medium, whether gas, solid, or liquid, and a sound wave is born.
Sound waves are produced when an object vibrates, creating a pressure wave of distinct frequency, pitch, and volume. Through a sophisticated and complex system, human hearing transforms sound waves into nerve impulses, which allow the brain to interpret the sounds as information about our environment. Then your brain makes up your mind about what that sound means. Whether it’s Mozart or Led Zeppelin, birdsong or an elephant’s trumpet, your ears process sound the same way. Published in the Humboldt Independent on June 1, 2021
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