When someone talks, what makes me hear?
Hear ye, hear ye! How do you hear me?
​
Hearing is a very complex process involving two parts of the auditory system: the ear and the brain.
The ear has three main parts: the outer ear, middle ear, and inner ear.
Any source of sound sends vibrations or sound waves into the air, where they first hit your outer ear.
The outer ear – the part you can see – serves as a sort of funnel, guiding the sound into the ear canal where it meets the middle ear right at the eardrum (tympanic membrane).
The middle ear contains three small bones which help amplify and transfer sound to the inner ear.
These three bones, also called “ossicles,” are called the malleus, the incus, and the stapes –
but they are sometimes referred to as the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup,
since they look a little bit like those objects. In the inner ear,
we find the cochlea, a funny snail shell-looking structure that changes
the sound into neurological signals, and the auditory (hearing)
nerve, which takes the signals to the brain, which interprets the sound.
Three cheers for your ears!
Helllllllooooooooo
See for yourself: SOUNDS like fun!
Did you know that sound travels better through solids and liquids that it does through the air?
Next time you’re in a swimming pool and have a grownup nearby, take a quarter or other small piece of metal with you. Near the wall of the pool, take a deep breath, and go completely underwater.
Tap the quarter lightly against the wall of the pool.
The sound is much louder than it is outside of the water.
[And/or]
Make a string telephone!
You need a long piece of string (10 feet or more), two plastic cups, and a partner.
Poke a small hole in the bottom of each cup, poke the string through, and make a knot inside,
so the string stays attached to the cup.
Each of you take one of the cups, and stand as far apart as possible, with the string taut.
Put your cup to your ear, and have your partner talk into it.
The sound will travel along the string and get amplified by your cup,
and you should be able to hear them as if they were standing right next to you!
