Human ear how does it work

It can detect extremely quiet sounds, determine whether a noise came from far or near, and isolate a specific sound within dense background noise. In the United States, 1 in 8 people aged 12 years and older develops hearing loss in both ears. In this article, we explore the anatomy of the ear, describe how hearing works, and investigate common causes of hearing loss.

The ear has three main sections: the outer, middle, and inner ear. Each section serves a distinct purpose in hearing. The outer ear is the visible part, also known as the pinna. Its primary job is to collect as much sound from the surrounding area as it can.

The middle ear amplifies incoming sound with the help of a thin membrane called the eardrum, or tympanic membrane. The eardrum separates the outer ear from the middle ear and helps to transmit sound vibrations to the inner ear.

The eardrum vibrates when sound waves reach it. This vibration moves the ossicles, transmitting sound further into the ear. Meanwhile, the Eustachian tubes are thin, mucus-lined passages that help maintain stable pressure in the middle ear. Stable pressure allows sound waves to transmit correctly. These tubes connect the middle ear to the back of the throat. The cochlea is a small, curled tube full of liquid that sits in the inner ear. It has an internal membrane, called the basilar membrane, which is covered in hair cells.

Each hair cell has stereocilia — tiny hair-like projections — along its top. As the hair cells move up and down, the stereocilia bump into the structures above them. The bumping causes them to bend, and this opens up ion channels, creating a signal that the ear delivers to the brain. Higher and lower pitches of sound activate hairs in different parts of the cochlea.

The brain gathers information about pitch from the position of the activated hairs. The cochlea sends this information along the auditory, or cochlear, nerve. The signal reaches the medulla, which is part of the brain stem. The brain stem is the area of the brain closest to the back of the neck. The auditory nerve also carries information from the brain to the cochlea.

The fibers of this nerve help suppress distracting sounds, allowing us to concentrate on just one sound among many. For instance, when we are having a conversation in a busy room, the fibers of the auditory nerve help us focus on hearing one voice while ignoring other sounds.

Studies such as these might be a step towards less invasive treatments for deafness in which molecular cues can be used to biologically regenerate hair cells in the cochlea. Health Home Conditions and Diseases. The Outer Ear The auricle pinna is the visible portion of the outer ear. The Middle Ear The vibrations from the eardrum set the ossicles into motion. The Inner Ear The sound waves enter the inner ear and then into the cochlea, a snail-shaped organ.

The brain then interprets these signals, and this is how we hear. The eardrum vibrations caused by sound waves move the chain of tiny bones the ossicles — malleus, incus and stapes in the middle ear transferring the sound vibrations into the cochlea of the inner ear. This happens because the last of the three bones in this chain, the stapes, sits in a membrane-covered window in the bony wall which separates the middle ear from the cochlea of the inner ear.

These nerve impulses follow a complicated pathway in the brainstem before arriving at the hearing centres of the brain, the auditory cortex. This is where the streams of nerve impulses are converted into meaningful sound. All of this happens within a tiny fraction of a second…. It is very true to say that, ultimately, we hear with our brain. Hearing well depends on all parts of our auditory system working normally so that sound can pass through the different parts of the ear to the brain to be processed without any distortion.

The type of hearing problem you have depends on which part of your auditory system is not responding well. If you have a problem in the outer or middle ear, it means that there is inefficient transfer of sound to the cochlea in the inner ear.

A typical example would be the effect of a blockage of wax in the ear canal or a perforated eardrum. This is called a conductive hearing loss because sound vibrations are not being conducted efficiently. The cochlea is still working normally but simply not receiving enough information via its connection with the middle ear.

If the problem is somewhere between the cochlea in the inner ear and the brain, this is called a sensorineural hearing loss. How can I clean my ears out? Lifestyle and home remedies Soften the wax. Use an eyedropper to apply a few drops of baby oil, mineral oil, glycerin or hydrogen peroxide in your ear canal.

Use warm water. After a day or two, when the wax is softened, use a rubber-bulb syringe to gently squirt warm water into your ear canal. Dry your ear canal. Can you hear without an intact eardrum? Soundwaves hit the eardrum, which in turn vibrates the bones of the middle ear. Hearing or audition adjectival form: auditory is the sense of sound perception. Hearing is all about vibration. Sound can also be detected as vibrations conducted through the body by tactition.

Lower frequencies that can be heard are detected this way.