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An ear is an Organ used by an Animal to detect Sound Waves . The term may refer to the entire system responsible for collection and early processing of sound (the beginning of the Auditory System ), or merely the externally-visible part. Not all animals have ears in the same part of the body. Audition is the scientific name for the sense of hearing. The Organ Of Corti is the actual organ of hearing.


THE MAMMALIAN EAR


Mammal s, including Human s, have two ears, one on each side of the head.

  • The Outer Ear is the external portion of the ear,also known as the Pinna . The pinna captures the sound and transfers it through the auditory canal to the tympanic membrane (eardrum), which vibrates and transfers the sound to the ossicles of the tympanic membrane.


  • The Middle Ear includes the Ossicles malleus or hammer,incus or anvil, and stapes or stirrup (three tiny bones), two muscle Tendon s (of the stapedius and tensor tympani muscles), and two nerve bundles (the horizontal portion of the facial nerve and a branch of the facial nerve called the chorda tympani). The Eustachian Tube connects from the chamber of the middle ear to the back of the pharynx to equalize the pressure. That's why you can feel your ears "pop" when descending on an airplane


  • The Inner Ear comprises both the organ of hearing (the Cochlea ) and the Labyrinth or Vestibular Apparatus , the organ of balance located in the inner ear that consists of three Semicircular Canal s and the Vestibule . Within the cochlea are located three canals: the tympanic canal, the vestibular canal, and the middle canal. When sound strikes the cochlea, the fluid inside is moved. This fluid stimulates the organ of Corti, located within the middle canal, to interpret the sound and send the information through the auditory nerve to the brain



DAMAGE MECHANISMS


The principal damage mechanism to the human ear in industrialized society is exposure to elevated sound levels. Approximately ten percent of the population in industrialized societies have significant populations were tracked, with the result that noise-exposed persons had greater hearing loss than their Age Cohorts who were relatively unexposed to noise. In fact, it has been shown that people in non-industrialized countries do not experience the same progressive hearing loss S. Rosen and P. Olin, ''Hearing Loss and Coronary Heart Disease '', Archives of Otollaryngology , 82:236 (1965).

The mechanism of intake.

In 1972 the U.S. EPA told Congress that at least 34 million people were exposed to sound levels on a daily basis that are likely to lead to significant hearing lossSenate Public Works Committee, Noise Pollution and Abatement Act of 1972, S. Rep. No. 1160, 92nd Cong. 2nd session. The worldwide implication for industrialized countries would place this exposed population in the hundreds of millions.


NON-MAMMALIAN HEARING ORGANS


Spiders have hairs on their legs which are used for detecting sound.

Reptilian ears only have one bone — the columella (stapes).



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