Sound Enters Your Ear Canal
Sound waves—vibrations in the air—are collected by your outer ear (the visible part) and funneled down the ear canal toward your eardrum. The shape of your ear actually helps you locate where sounds come from.
The Eardrum Vibrates
When sound waves hit your eardrum (tympanic membrane), it vibrates like a drum. These tiny vibrations are the beginning of converting sound into something your brain can understand.
Three Tiny Bones Amplify Sound
The hammer, anvil, and stirrup (the smallest bones in your body) amplify the eardrum's vibrations by about 20x. They transmit this amplified signal to the cochlea—your inner ear.
The Cochlea Converts to Electrical Signals
The snail-shaped cochlea is filled with fluid and lined with thousands of microscopic hair cells. When the fluid moves, these hair cells bend and create electrical signals. Different frequencies bend different parts of the cochlea—this is how we distinguish pitch.
Your Brain Interprets the Sound
The electrical signals travel via the auditory nerve to your brain, which interprets them as music, speech, alarms, or whatever you're hearing. This entire process takes milliseconds.
🔬 Hair Cell Damage Demonstration
You're born with about 16,000 hair cells per ear. Click to see what happens with noise damage.
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