Understanding how the ear works will help you understand why you may have hearing loss and how to protect yourself. The following description may be difficult to follow with many scientific terms, but we hope you’ll be able to comprehend everything.
Structure of the Ear
The ear is a very complex structure. The pinna is the part of the ear that is on the exterior of your head. Following that is the auditory canal or ear canal, which leads to the eardrum and is only about 1 inch long. The canal also holds our earwax which traps dust and repels insects. The eardrums also called tympanic membrane vibrates when it comes in contact with sound.
Source: ARC Speech
Immediately after are a group of the smallest bones found in the human body, the ossicles. The ossicles are malleus (also known as hammer), incus (also known as anvil), and stapes (also known as stirrup). The malleus is attached to the eardrums, the incus is in the middle of the 2 bones, and stapes is attached to a window of the cochlea. The cochlea is found further into the ear and has a spiral and cone-shaped structure. Inside, is full of fluid and there are 18 000 stereocilia cells, or hair cells, that line the wall of the cochlea. Finally, the auditory or cochlea nerve links to the brain.
Path of Sound
When we hear, sound waves undergo a journey through all the mentioned structures of the ear and towards the brain. Sound waves are directed into the ear by the pinna and it also helps to perceive direction of sound. After travelling through the auditory canal, the sound waves hit the tympanic membrane causing it to vibrate at the frequency of the sound wave. In effect, the ossicles are activated. The malleus is first to vibrate and causes a ripple effect which vibrates the incus and then the stapes. The stapes then causes the fluid of the cochlea to move and in turn causes the hair cells to move. Finally, the hair cells generate electrical signals which are transferred to the brain by the cochlea nerve and our brain interprets these signals as sounds.
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