hearing

Our hearing



Hearing is the only sense that is always active, even when we sleep.
Hearing is very important

Our daily life and our quality of life can be affected by hearing loss.

Hearing gives us fundamental information on a constant basis and makes us experience emotions and memories. Hearing is very important:
At work:

    Participate in group meetings
    Talking on phone
    Follow conversations in a noisy office

On social occasions

    When talking with friends
    While talking during a dinner in a restaurant
    When interacting with their grandchildren
    When talking on the phone
    When watching television with other people

For your own safety:

    When walking near a busy road
    To hear sounds that warn of danger such as sirens and other traffic signals
    To be able to hear a request for help

When we learn:

    We can concentrate with little effort
    We can communicate with teachers
    We record the information correctly

Probably the music would not be lost, the laughter of the children or the words whispered by a beloved person. Nor the most pleasant sounds of nature: the song of a blackbird, the wind between the leaves in autumn, the waves on the beach or the crackling of a bonfire.
How hearing works

To hear we use two ears and a brain. And there is a reason.

Natural hearing
A healthy auditory system can recognize bass sounds (a contrabass or traffic) and highs (a violin or birdsong). In technical terms, it refers to frequencies between 20 and 20,000 Hertz. In addition, it can process very mild sounds (such as a mosquito buzz) and very high (the engine of a reactor). This is equivalent to a volume between 0 and more than 120 decibels.

The understanding of speech
Our brain has a tendency to understand speech and can process it in different facets and in any situation. When we are in a cafeteria, talking on the phone or at a conference, the brain filters out many irrelevant sounds to focus on what it has to hear. Thanks to this ability, we can concentrate on a single instrument of an orchestra or participate in an intimate conversation in the middle of a noisy environment.

Spacial hearing
Our brain receives sound in 360 degrees: from any point around the head. It is able to differentiate between front and back, up and down. This allows us to know where a sound comes from, the size of a room or if there is a traffic jam in the area.
How we hear

The anatomy of hearing
"Hello"
Auditory
channel
Eardrum
Hammer
Anvil
Stirrup
Eardrum
Nerve fibers
Cochlea
Back
Brain

Once the impulses are sent to the brain, it processes the data in such a way that we can select what is relevant to the situation and follow it.
Inner ear

The processing begins in the inner ear where the sound waves are transformed into electrical impulses. The sound waves cause the fluid inside the cochlea to move. The sensory cells are stimulated with this movement and send electrical impulses to the brain.
Middle ear



The middle ear is composed of the eardrum and three small bones: hammer, anvil and stirrup. The last is the smallest bone in the body. They work together to amplify the sound waves.
External ear

Have you ever wondered why an ear has the shape it has? This shape ensures that sound waves are captured and directed through the ear canal to the eardrum.

The brain tries hard

Many people find it difficult to follow conversations in certain places, such as a noisy restaurant. This is because speech is composed of a large number of different sounds combined in a rapid flow. The brain prioritizes and organizes these sounds constantly.

When studying hearing, it can be surprising to know that the brain works more than the ears. That's why it can be so frustrating to try to follow a conversation in a noisy environment like a restaurant. This is difficult even for people who do not have a hearing loss. Normally, the brain can classify all the information to which we pay attention through a cognitive process: said with few words, the brain organizes the sound environment, selects the desired source and follows it. However, in the case of people with hearing loss, the brain has to work much harder to interpret the sound because the signal it receives from the ears is more tenuous, less detailed and less clear.

Some sounds are heard better than others
Sharp consonants, such as f, s and t, are easily drowned out by stronger and more severe vowels such as a, o and u. That is why people with hearing loss may complain that they hear others are talking but do not understand what they are saying.
What is hearing loss

If the ear is exposed to intense sounds for a long time, the sensory cells and fibers of the inner ear can be damaged. This can lead to permanent hearing loss