How Does Hearing Work?

Your hearing process involves all of the auditory system parts mentioned above. Here’s a step-by-step guide to this complex process:

1. Sound waves travel through your ear canal to your eardrum and cause it to vibrate.
2. The vibrations travel from your eardrum to your ossicles (tiny bones in your middle ear).
3. Your ossicles send the vibrations to your cochlea (a spiral cavity in your inner ear that’s lined with hair cells).
4. The tiny hair cells vibrate and send messages to your auditory nerve (the nerve that connects your ears to your brain).
5. Your brain receives this information and translates it into sound. In other words, your brain is where your sense of hearing comes to life.

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