The human ear – a complex organ
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Just like your eyes, your ears are phenomenal organs. Your ears capture sound waves, then translate them into electrical signals that the brain can process. Your outer ear, the pinna, collects sound waves and directs them into the auditory canal. The outer ear’s unique shape acts as a funnel, amplifying the sound, especially speech. The ear’s intricate shape also filters the sound to add directional information. This directional information helps you distinguish where sound comes from, and helps you filter out sounds you don’t want to hear, like a conversation between people on a table next to you in a restaurant. | The captured sound then enters your concha and reaches your eardrum. Your eardrum picks up the waves and carries this motion to the three small bones, actually the smallest bones in your body, the hammer, anvil and stirrup. The last one, the stirrup, is connected to your cochlea, which transforms the motion into electric signals that your brain can process, causing you to hear. When your ear does not function well, you suffer from hearing loss, limiting your ability to communicate and connect with the people around you. In most cases, our hearing aids can bring your hearing ability back to normal, while going unnoticed. |