How does the ear work?
The human ear is a complex but phenomenal sound system, capable of detecting the smallest sounds at an incredibly wide range of intensity and frequency. The structure of the ear can be divided into three major parts, namely the outer ear, or pinna, the middle ear and the inner ear.
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The pinna is responsible for helping to place the location of a sound. It acts as a sound collector and helps channels sound down the ear canal. The outer ear collects sound vibrations, which in turn causes movement of the eardrum. The eardrum is connected to three tiny bones, or ossicles, the malleus, incus and stapes (or hammer, anvil and stirrup).
The middle ear serves to intensify the energy of the sound vibrations and deliver them to the cochlea (inner ear). Inside the cochlea are thousands of tiny hair-like cells connected to the fibers of the hearing nerve. These hairs are sensitive to different frequencies of sound.
Sound vibrations enter the cochlea and cause sound waves to travel through the ear. This causes the basilar membrane to which the hair cells are attached to move. The hair cells then trigger electrochemical signals which travel through the acoustic nerve to the brain where they are recognised as sounds.