How does the human ear work

One of the five senses in humans is the sense of hearing and the organ through which this sense is manifested is the ear. It is an organ of a very complex structure, and it is a part of the auditory system. The main roles of the ear are hearing, head positioning and maintaining the body balance. Therefore, it is important to maintain the ear healthy.

Three parts of the ear

The human ear is comprised of three major parts that are also made of certain parts. The three major ear parts are the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear is composed of two parts: ear flap and ear canal. Ear flap serves for the collecting of the sound waves, while the ear canal is 2 centimeters long and it canalizes the sound waves to the middle ear. In this canal, there are sweat glands that secrete the earwax. The middle ear is composed of four parts, and they are eardrum or tympanic membrane, and three tiny bones: hammer, anvil and stirrup. The middle ear is filled with air and is linked with mouth through the Eustachian tube. The inner ear is comprised of cochlea or spiral tube, the semicircular canals and the auditory nerve.

Human ear working

All the three parts of the ear work in coordination. Their principal role is to collect the sound waves and interpret them to the brain. Each part of the ear, even the smallest one, has its important role in the process of hearing. The main role of the outer ear is to collect the sound waves and then transport them to the middle ear. The ear flap is the part that collects the sound waves and canalize through the ear canal to the eardrum, which is in the middle ear. The ear canal is long 2 cm and it serves to amplify the sound waves.

The eardrum or tympanic membrane has a membrane lining that vibrates on the pressure waves that come from the outer ear. Then the hammer, anvil and stirrup also vibrate and transform the pressure waves into compressional waves. Furthermore, cochlea and semicircular canals are parts of the inner ear, which are filled with fluid. They contain many nerve cells that respond to the different frequencies of the compressional waves and generate them into electric impulses, which are transported to the brain through the auditory nerve.