Meridian Magazine

Did you hear that?

Did you hear something? Maybe the sound you heard was as quiet as your cat licking her paws. Or maybe it was loud, like a siren going by. Sounds are everywhere, and you have two cool parts on your body that let you hear them all: your ears! Your ears are in charge of collecting sounds, processing them, and sending sound signals to your brain in a form it can understand. One of the most remarkable things about this process is that it is completely mechanical. Your sense of smell, taste and vision all involve chemical reactions, but your hearing system is based solely on physical movement.

If you possess good hearing, you have something truly precious. Just think! You can listen to the melodious song of a bird, the ripple of a brook, the voice of a loved one. Through your ears you can receive lifesaving messages, too perhaps from an automobile horn, a siren or a fire alarm. Fire alarms are loud, whispers are soft, sopranos sing high, tubas play low, every one of your friends has a different voice. The differences between sounds are caused by intensity, pitch, and tone. In an amazing way, you distinguish between the rumble of thunder and the clatter of wagon wheels, the footsteps of a person and the hoofbeats of a horse, even if you cannot see their source. But, you cannot hear every sound that surrounds you, and that is a good thing. The wavelength of the sounds that human ear can perceive ranges between 20 and 20,000 Hertz. It is unable to sense frequencies of sound that are above or below those limits. Indeed, it would be better to call this an advantage rather than an “inability”. In a wider range of hearing, you would be disturbed by the footsteps of a little ant, the moaning of an insect laying eggs, you would hear your own heartbeats, even your bone and muscle movements thus you would be facing unbearable pain in your head. The range of hearing of ears are arranged in a most suitable way and in the best measurements. The human ear has three main sections, which consist of the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. The outer ear is the part of the ear that people can see. It's what people pierce to wear earrings and what your friend whispers into when it's time for a secret. The main job of the outer ear is to collect sounds, whether they're your friend's whispers or a barking dog. The hairs in the canal serve to prevent dust, insects, and so forth, from going deeper and causing damage. The outer ear also includes the ear canal, where wax is produced containing chemicals that fight off infections. Sound from the external environment is collected by our outer ear and then funneled down to the outer ear or ear canal. Sound vibrations causes movement in the eardrum along with a chain of three small bones that are connected to it. This is the middle ear.

The middle ear is responsible for intensifying the energy coming from the sound vibrations and also for delivering the vibrations to the inner ear or the cochlea. Within the cochlea are tiny hair-like cells which are connected to the fibers found in the acoustic or hearing nerve. The sound vibrations which enter the cochlea create a certain wave, which travels through our fluid-filled ear causing the hairs on the cells to move, creating nerve signals that the brain understands as sound. You are not aware of all these rapid activities which are done perfectly in fractions of a second. The brain puts it together and hooray! You hear your favorite song on the radio. And that's not all, your ears also help you keep your balance. So if you bend over to pick up your cat, you won't fall down or even worse fall on your cat. Meow! Whether you look at the animals or consider yourself, doubtless you will admit that hearing ability truly is amazing. And surely you will want to care for and protect your hearing apparatus. Protect your hearing by wearing earplugs at loud music concerts and around noisy machinery, like in wood or metal shop at school. Keep the volume down on your stereo, especially if you're in the car or wearing headphones.Never probe in your ears with objects such as hairpins or matchsticks. Well, having periodic ear examinations would not be amiss.