Sound is the movement of air molecules brought about by a source of vibration. When sound enters the ear, it stimulates key structures.
Sounds, arriving at the outer ear in the form of wave vibrations, are funneled into the auditory canal of the outer ear.
The eardrum vibrates when sound waves hit it. The more intense the sound, the more the eardrum vibrates.
These vibrations are transferred into the middle ear, which contains three bones that transmit vibrations to the oval window and on into the inner ear.
The inner ear is the portion of the ear that changes the sound vibrations into a form in which they can be transmitted to the brain.
When sound enters the inner ear, it moves into the cochlea, a coiled tube that looks something like a snail and is filled with fluid that can vibrate in response to sound.
Inside the cochlea is the basilar membrane, which is covered with hair cells. When these cells are bent by the vibrations, they send a neural message to the brain.
Sound waves have important characteristics.
Frequency is the number of wave cycles of sound that occur in a second.
Amplitude is a feature of wave patterns that allows us to distinguish between loud and soft sounds.
