“How Do We Hear?” – In Plain English

3Jun09 “How Do We Hear?” – In Plain English

Our ears are complex sensory organs. They pick up all the sounds around us and then transfer it into sound waves our brains can translate and understand. What makes ears so extraordinary is that the hearing process in general is mechanical and is based solely on physical movement. This compares with our sense of taste, smell, or sight, which involves chemical reactions.

So, how do our ears hear sound anyway? First, you need to understand what sound really is. Textbook definitions describe the hearing process as sound being produced when it vibrates in matter. This can be a solid or a liquid. Most often, we hear sounds traveling through the air (liquid) in our atmosphere. When something vibrates, it moves the surrounding air particles, and carries the pulse of the vibration. We hear different sounds because of the variations in the sound wave frequency. Translated, we hear things by pitch and amplitude.

So, to hear sound, our ears must direct the sound waves into the hearing part of the ear, sense fluctuations in air pressure, and then translate these fluctuations into a signal that our brains can translate. Our brains can recognize distinctive sound patterns and are also able to determine whether the sound is coming from the front, side, behind, above, or below.

While all parts of our ears perform a vital function for hearing, the ear drum (the tympanic membrane) is considered the core sensory element. The rest of the ear serves to pass along information gathered there. The ear drum is positioned between the ear canal and the middle ear. Since air flows in from your outer ear as well as your mouth, the pressure on both sides of the eardrum remains equal. Infections, injuries or other ailments can greatly affect the pressure, causing various hearing symptoms to occur.

Why is all this important? The ear is quite sensitive and is an extraordinary organ that involves a complex process for the achievement of normal hearing. Care and attention to hearing is needed to ensure the proper function of our ear. Consider an all-natural supplement like ProHieran: a sound approach to hearing wellness.