- The ear is an important organ of the human body.
- When sound waves fall on the eardrum, it vibrates and these vibrations are converted into electrical signals which travel to the brain through nerves.
- The ear can be divided into three parts:
- (a) Outer ear
- (b) Middle ear
- (c) Inner ear.
(a) Outer ear or Pinna
The outer ear collects the sound waves and passes them through a tube to a cavity in the middle ear. Its peculiar funnel like shape helps to collect and pass sounds into the middle ear.
(b) Middle ear
There’ is a thin membrane in the cavity of the middle ear called the eardrum. When a compression in a sound wave reaches the eardrum, the pressure outside it increases and it gets pushed inwards. The opposite happens when a rarefaction reaches there. The pressure outside decreases and the membrane gets pulled outwards. Thus, sound waves cause vibrations of the membrane.
(c) Inner ear
The auditory nerve connects the inner ear to the brain. The inner ear has a structure resembling the shell of a snail. It is called the cochlea. The cochlea receives the vibrations coming from the membrane and converts them into electrical signals which are sent to the brain through the nerve. The brain analyses these signals.
