subject: Preventing Hearing Loss By Learning About And Appreciating The Human Ear [print this page] You might be content just knowing that your ears work so you dont have to think about it. The inner workings of your ear canal and all the special parts may not be very interesting to you, content to simply reap the benefits of the miracle that we call hearing. However, if you had a better idea of what exactly goes on inside your body when you hear noises and sounds around you, perhaps you would resolve to take better care of your ears. It could mean the difference between hearing loss and a life with full hearing capacity.
A large percentage of hearing loss is brought on by noises and sounds that reach high decibels over the duration of your life. Eventually the damage adds up and decreases your hearing to a degree that prevents you from enjoying the environment around you like you once could. This is gradual hearing loss that is not owed to genetic dispositions, sickness, or injury. It is owed, instead, to your own daily choices over time. It is also avoidable.
Your ear is a complex part of your body with many moving parts that together, miraculously, give you the ability to hear. The ear basically works to change the vibrations and airwaves in the environment into electrical signals that your brain can process and turn into data you can hear.
First, the sound waves enter through the outer ear, immediately traveling down the ear canal. The outer ear is specially designed to trap as much sound waves as possible, taking advantage of ripples and creases in your ear that expand the overall surface area of your ear with which you can trap sound waves. The outer ear is also well suited to direct the waves immediately into the canal, like an irrigation ditch. The waves naturally flow into the canal.
The sound waves travel down the canal to the eardrum. The sound waves cause vibrations on the eardrum that in turn are sent to the small bones located behind the eardrum in your middle ear. The eardrum is where the noise-induced hearing loss occurs over time. Vibrations at a certain decibel level are bearable for your sensitive eardrum. When they reach 75 to 85 decibels, they start to border the realm of ear damage, especially if felt for an extended period of time.
The small bones in the middle ear amplify those vibrations and direct them to the cochlea, or inner ear. The vibrations cause the fluid in the cochlea membrane to ripple just like a pond or lake when you throw a rock into it. A mixture of surface structure, fine hairs specially positioned, pores, and chemicals create a process that turns the vibrations into electrical signals. As the waves brush over the hairs, the pores are opened slightly and chemicals rush in to create electrical signals.
The auditory nerve located nearby takes the electrical signals directly to the brain, which is not too far away. Thats where the signals are turned into the sounds that you hear and recognize.
The process involves lots of small parts that are unique designed to be sensitive. That allows them to do their job but also means that they can be damaged rather easily. This makes it all the more imperative that you take care of your ears to avoid future hearing loss.
