Hearing+P2+Nico,+Luke,+Brandon,+Stephen

media type="custom" key="11600384"

Hearing Script

 The Brain is isolated within the cold dark confines of the skull. One of the brain’s main contacts with the outside world is sound. The brain interacts with sound through the ear. The ear is comprised of three main parts, the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear.  The outer ear helps process sound by using the Pinna to catch stimuli (sound waves) and direct them to the part of the ear that transduces. After the Pinna catches the sound waves, the Ear Canal allows the sound to then enter the ear and direct it towards the ear drum. The ear canal is very essential in this process because if it is partially closed or damaged, the hearing is dampened.  The middle hear contains a very important part of the ear, the ear drum. The ear drum gets hit by sound waves and it moves around causing to hit the Auditory Ossicles (which is made up of the Malleus, Incus, and Stapes). The Auditory Ossicles then hit the inner ear.  The inner ear, which is formed by the Cochlea, Vestibule, and the semicircular canals, differs from the outer and middle ear because it resides in a liquid instead of air. This is where transduction occurs. This means that the sound waves the ear picks up are converted into neural messages, that allow the brain to “hear” the sound.  In order for these three parts to function they must be stimulated. The ear is stimulated by the change in air pressure around the Pinna. Anything that vibrates creates a sound wave that makes the air pressure change. The ear picks up this change of pressure and processes it into neural signals. The frequency of the wave determines the pitch of the sound while the amplitude of the wave determines how loud we hear it.  Hearing is very important for humans to be able to interact with the world. Without hearing we wouldn't be able to detect things without hearing them. For example without hearing we wouldn’t be able to detect the car racing down the street coming up behind us. Not only is hearing important for our survival it is also instrumental for communication. Without hearing we would have to rely on sign or written language which is generally short distance. We would not be able to have long distance conversations such as telephone communication. The importance of hearing is demonstrated by the acuteness of our hearing. Humans can hear the tick of a watch 20 feet away under quiet conditions. The range of human hearing is from about 12 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Although humans gradually lose the ability to hear higher range pitches as they grow older, human hearing is still very keen. As important as hearing is to humans it is significantly more important to other animals. Dogs for example can hear at a much higher frequency. Their hearing range is about 67 Hz to 45,000 Hz. Some fun facts about hearing are the it helps with balance and body positioning. Without hearing are bodies would have a less precise balance to them. The auditory ossicles which are essential parts of the auditory system are so small they could fit into a penny. Hearing loss is increasing in young adults because of the use of headphones and how loud they are played. Even while we are sleeping we still continue to hear. During WWI the French kept parrots on the Eiffel tower because they were able to hear enemy air crafts from a much greater distance then could humans.

Works Cited

Cochlea. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. .

The Ear. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. .

Ear Drum. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. .

Eustachian Tube. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. .

“Fact Sheet: How the Ear Works.” //American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery//. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. .

Hearing Chart. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. .

“How Hearing Works.” //How Stuff Works//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. .

“How the Ear Works.” //Hearing Central//. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.hearingcentral.com/howtheearworks.asp>.

Human Ear. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. <http://www.peakmedical-ent.com/media/ear-nose-throat.jpg>.

Inner Ear. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/Gray925.png/450px-Gray925.png>.

Loud Noises. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. <http://www.thedeafblog.co.uk/loud.jpg>.

Outer Ear. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.osha.gov/dts/osta/otm/noise/images/outer_ear.gif>.

Sound Wave. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. <http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/157960/157960,1235188210,1/stock-photo--d-illustration-of-sound-wave-over-black-background-25327480.jpg>.

Threshold for Hearing. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. <http://donrathjr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Hearing-Chart-Main.png>.

“Your Ears.” //Kids Health//. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. <http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/ears.html>.