The internal structure of the ear, drawing of the surrounding world. What does the main hearing apparatus in humans consist of, its functions
The ears are considered one of the most important sense organs. It is difficult to imagine life without hearing; it helps a person navigate space and perceive what is happening in full. There are many interesting facts associated with human hearing.
The human ear perceives the widest range of sounds in childhood. Toddlers and preschoolers hear sound waves from 20 hertz minimum to 20 thousand hertz maximum.
A very common disease is age-related hearing loss or hearing loss. According to world statistics, this disease affects 60% of elderly (65 to 74 years old) and 72% of old (75 and above) people. Modern medical technologies make it possible to improve hearing with the help of hearing aids, but only 15% of people with hearing loss use them.
Men are more likely to experience hearing loss at a young age. The reason is simple - working in places with violations of sanitary standards for noise pollution, as well as where loud sounds are the norm, a cost of the profession.
Unusual facts that not many people know about
Not so long ago, scientists discovered that before entering the brain, sound undergoes “filtering” in the ears. Moreover, each ear independently performs this procedure, recognizing sounds and sending them to the desired hemisphere of the brain.
Newborn babies' ears are not cleaned, because they clean themselves. The wax produced by the pores in the ear is pushed out by small hairs (cilia) or washed away with water. Nothing changes with age; the ears clean themselves throughout a person’s life.
Using ear sticks to remove wax from the ears often leads to the formation of wax plugs. Children under 6 years of age are especially susceptible to this. To preserve your health, it is better to avoid using cotton swabs.
Listening to music with headphones at high volume for a long time leads to hearing loss and pathological changes in the ears. In addition, headphones promote the growth of bacteria, increasing it by 700 times.
Constant noise above 85 dB leads to eardrum damage and hearing impairment. For children, the maximum permissible listening volume without harm to health is 70 dB. Sound levels of 140 dB and above will damage hearing instantly and lead to death quite quickly.
Ear infections impair a person's ability to maintain balance and navigate in space. This happens due to damage to the tubules located next to the cochlea of the ear and working like a gyroscope.
It is transmitted using air vibrations, which are produced by all moving or trembling objects, and the human ear is an organ designed to capture these vibrations (vibrations). The structure of the human ear provides a solution to this difficult problem.
The human ear has three sections: the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. Each of them has its own structure, and together they form a kind of long tube that goes deep into the human head.
The structure of the human outer ear
The outer ear begins with the auricle. This is the only part of the human ear that is outside the head. The auricle is shaped like a funnel, which captures sound waves and redirects them into the ear canal (it is located inside the head, but is also considered part of the outer ear).
The inner end of the ear canal is closed by a thin and elastic partition - the eardrum, which receives vibrations of sound waves passing through the ear canal, begins to tremble and transmits them further to the middle ear and, in addition, isolates the middle ear from the air. Let's look at how this happens.
Structure of the human middle ear
The middle ear is made up of three ear bones called the malleus, incus and stapes. They are all connected to each other by small joints.
The malleus is adjacent to the eardrum from the inside of the head, absorbs its vibrations, causes the incus to tremble, and that, in turn, the stirrup. The stapes now vibrates much stronger than the eardrum and transmits such amplified sound vibrations to the inner ear.
The structure of the human inner ear
The inner ear is used to perceive sounds. It is firmly attached to the bones of the skull, almost completely covered by a bone sheath with a hole to which the stirrup is adjacent.
The auditory part of the inner ear is a spiral-shaped bony tube (cochlea) about 3 centimeters long and less than a centimeter wide. From the inside, the cochlea of the inner ear is filled with fluid, and its walls are covered with very sensitive hair cells.
Knowing the structure of the human inner ear, it is very easy to understand how it works. The stapes adjacent to the hole in the wall of the cochlea transmits its vibrations to the fluid inside it. The trembling of the liquid is perceived by hair cells, which, using the auditory nerves, transmit signals about this to the brain. And the brain, its auditory zone, processes these signals, and we hear sounds.
In addition to the ability to hear, the structure of a person’s ear also ensures his ability to maintain balance. A special one, the semicircular canals, is located in the inner ear.
Enjoying the sounds of nature, hearing the voices of loved ones, feeling even the lightest touches, distinguishing different tastes, smells, colors, admiring beautiful views - all this is available to us thanks to our faithful helpers - the senses: vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell.
Traditionally, there are five sense organs. But there are actually many more different sensations that a person experiences than there are sense organs.
For example, touch refers to the perception of cold, heat, pain, pressure, touch and many other sensations.
We can also feel muscle tension, joint movement, and conditions such as hunger, thirst, nausea, and pain.
The receptors for these sensations are located in the internal organs.
How does the brain help us feel?
It is very important to understand that no part of the human body “walks on its own.”
The cells of the body are combined into tissues, tissues into organs, and those, in turn, into organ systems.
There is a clearly established, unified functional system of the body, subordinate to a single leadership - the brain.
And changes in any one structure will certainly affect the entire body as a whole.
The body’s receipt of any information and the formation of a response is possible only through “cooperation” between the senses and the brain.
That is why there are numerous connections between them - pathways consisting of nerve fibers.
In fact, all impulses perceived by our receptors are fundamentally the same, but for some reason the sensations arise different.
It has been noted, for example, that the ringing of a bell causes exactly the same impulses as pressing on the skin with a pin.
Why, when we receive identical nerve impulses, do we develop a whole range of different sensations?
The sense organs consist of a receptor part that perceives irritation, a conductor part through which nerve impulses enter the brain to the nerve centers located in the cerebral cortex.
Here the received information is processed and tactics for the body’s further behavior are developed.
The sensation that is formed in a person after exposure to an impulse depends on the type of receptor: cold, heat, pain, etc., as well as on the area of the cerebral cortex to which this excitation comes.
It turns out that the senses only perceive and transmit information, but we actually feel with our brain.
Let us consider in more detail the structure of one of the most important sense organs, which ensures the perception of sound.
Ear - organ of hearing
How many ears do you think a person has? Can you say two? But this is wrong. Man... has six ears.
Don't believe me? Let's count: outer ear - one, middle ear - two, inner ear - three. And this is only on one side of the head. And on both sides there are six.
And there's nothing wrong with that. On the contrary, such a number of ears makes us very sensitive.
The ear contains organs of two different senses: hearing and balance. These organs lie deep in the temporal bone of the skull.
To conduct sound waves from the external environment inside, a number of additional structures are required.
As we have already said, the ear can be divided into outer, middle and inner parts.
The outer ear consists of two parts: a skin-covered cartilaginous outgrowth, or auricle, and the external auditory canal, leading from the concha to the middle ear.
The external auditory canal is covered with skin containing sebaceous glands and hairs.
The hairs trap debris, and the sebaceous glands produce wax, without which the outer ear would have a very hard time.
The middle ear is a small chamber containing three tiny bones connected in series: the malleus, incus, and stapes.
They received these names due to their shape. These ossicles transmit sound waves through the middle ear cavity.
The middle ear is filled with air and communicates with the nasopharynx through a special Eustachian tube.
Thanks to this message, the same pressure is maintained in the middle ear as outside.
This is why when there is a sharp change in atmospheric pressure (for example, during takeoff or landing of an airplane), the ears become blocked.
To get rid of this sensation, you need to make a sharp swallowing movement.
The inner ear consists of a complex system of interconnected canals and cavities, which is often and very aptly called a labyrinth.
Inside it there are three canals: the vestibule canal, the tympanic canal and the cochlear canal.
Inside the cochlear canal is the organ of Corti - a true hearing receptor, consisting of hair cells that perceive the signal and immediately transmit it to the brain. Ready! The signal has reached its destination.
How do we hear different sounds?
From a mechanical point of view, this is what happens. The sounds that we hear come from various vibrating, that is, moving objects.
This vibration causes the surrounding air molecules to move, which causes the molecules next to them to move.
This creates a general movement of molecules in the air, which we call a sound wave.
We won't hear anything until the sound wave passes through the ear opening and reaches the eardrum.
The eardrum acts like the surface of a drum, causing the three small bones in the middle ear to vibrate to the rhythm of sound.
As a result, the fluid in the inner ear begins to move, affecting small sensitive cells - hairs.
These hair cells convert movement into nerve impulses, which are transmitted to the brain, and then one of the most important stages of sound formation begins: the brain analyzes the vibrations and determines them as sound quality.
But vibrations are different and, accordingly, they also produce different sounds.
Sounds differ in three main characteristics: volume, frequency and tonality.
The volume depends on the distance between the vibrating object and the person's ear.
The frequency depends on the vibration speed of the sounding object.
Tonality depends on the number and strength of overtones (harmonics) present in the sound. This occurs when high and low sounds mix.
But different sounds produce different movements in our ear, and different nerve impulses are transmitted to our brain.
This is what provides a person with a unique opportunity to hear different sounds.
The human ear is very sensitive. It is probably impossible to imagine a more effective hearing aid.
In its development it has reached such perfection that a further increase in sensitivity would be useless.
If the sensitivity of the ear were even higher, it would only detect the random movement of air, and we would hear only hissing and buzzing.
The ear hardly gets tired. Despite continuous noise exposure, it maintains hearing acuity and fatigue disappears within a few minutes.
When one ear is exposed to strong noise for some time, the other also shows fatigue - hearing acuity is lost.
This indicates that fatigue is localized not only in the ear itself, but also partially in the brain.
How to care for your ears?
Our ears require careful handling and daily care.
In the external auditory canal, a yellowish-brown mass is secreted - sulfur, accumulations of which can form cerumen plugs and cause hearing loss.
Caring for healthy ears involves regularly washing them with warm water and soap, while not allowing water or soap to get inside the middle ear.
Under no circumstances should you clean the external auditory canal with sharp objects. This can damage the eardrum or the walls of the passage.
Lack of proper care leads to the accumulation of earwax and blockage of the ear canal, inflammation of the mucous membrane, the formation of crusts, cracks or ulcers.
Even with proper care, sometimes our ears begin to “mope.”
Nothing can be done, because they cannot be completely protected from harmful external influences and infection.
Mild deafness - may result from the formation of wax plugs in the external auditory canal.
Ear pain - most often occurs due to inflammation of the middle ear.
When the eustachian tube is blocked, pressure increases in the middle ear. Thus, it becomes sandwiched between the bones of the skull.
How can this not cause severe pain? Much less often, ear pain is associated with dental disease.
Ringing in the ears - If ringing in the ears only bothers you occasionally, there is no need to worry.
However, persistent ringing in the ears may be a symptom of an inner ear disorder.
So it's time to go to the doctor. Take care of your ears! And be healthy.
Irina Antonova
Among all the sense organs, the ears occupy one of the main shelves, because they are the ones who warn us against various dangers and make it clear where the sound is coming from. Thanks to hearing, we can distinguish sounds and melodies in the environment around us. We can't imagine our life without it.
1. Ears grow throughout our lives, just like our nose. Moreover, the ears of one person are completely different from each other, both inside and outside.
2. The sound of the sea, coming from a sea shell when applied to the ear, is actually the sound of blood circulating through the veins. 
3. Noise weakens human immunity. Scientists have proven that when the sound volume is above 65 dB, the pulse increases significantly, and above 90 dB, even tachycardia begins. Every third fan of nightclubs and loud music will experience significant hearing loss after 4-5 years. 
4. The diagnosis of congenital hearing loss is typical mainly for those children whose parents have never had serious problems with the ears. 
5. Vaccines against mumps, rubella, measles, meningitis and a number of other infections play a vital role in the prevention of hearing aid disorders in children. 
6. Hearing aids improve the quality of life for 90% of people with hearing problems. 
7. A person hears his voice through the prisms of air and water. People around us perceive our voice completely differently, because they hear it much “purer”.
8. Crickets and grasshoppers hear with their front paws. They are covered with hairs with a film sensitive to noise and sound.
9. Every tenth earthling suffers from hearing problems and has recommendations for the use of a hearing aid. But 4 out of 5 people who need it don't use it. 10. Partial or complete hearing is possible at any age. The main reasons may be: prolonged exposure to loud sound, antibiotics, hereditary diseases, otitis media, infectious and viral diseases, complications of diseases during pregnancy, etc.
11. Women hear better than men, especially when speaking in a raised voice. However, men are better at recognizing the distance to the sound source, as well as its direction.
12. The main cause of hearing problems is strong exposure to noise.
13. If a person wants to hear something, then he moves exclusively his right ear to the sound source. 
14. Using headphones can damage your ears. The pores of the ear produce wax, and small hairs push it out.
15. For a third of schoolchildren, the reason for poor performance is hearing problems. 
16. More than half of the world's population over the age of 60 begins to have hearing problems, and forty percent of them require hearing aids.
17. Sound exceeding 140 dB causes immediate hearing damage every second. 90 dB is already considered dangerous for humans. The smallest sound that a human ear can hear is zero dB.
18. Elephants hear not only with their ears, but also with their trunk and legs. 
19. The range of frequencies within which people can hear sounds is called the audio or auditory range. Sounds located above this range are usually called ultrasounds. The ones below are infrasounds. Elephants and whales mostly use infrasounds to communicate with their relatives, and dogs use ultrasound. But the bat uses high-pitched sounds for sound location. 
20. Any person, even with some hearing problems, is able to distinguish several sounds at once.
21. An excess of wax in the ear can cause vomiting, dizziness, convulsions, noise, and even lead to partial hearing loss. 
22. You can earn wax plugs with ear sticks! The thing is that with ear sticks we remove only liquid wax. And we push the one that creates a traffic jam into the middle and compact it. The majority of the population has traffic jams, but they do not bother them (for the time being). In fact, the correct way to clean your ears is not to clean them, but to wash them. It is enough to carry out this procedure at least once a week, because... Excess wax is removed from the auricle during the chewing process, and if the ears are not washed, then we will simply have dirty ears. 
23. The average young person visits a club once a week for 5 years, where the average sound level is 115 dB (with a healthy threshold for an adult of 85 dB). Over five years, the total exposure is at least 1500-2000 hours, which means an irreversible hearing loss of 25 dB.
24. A teenager hears sounds of higher sound frequencies than older people. In Western countries, young people have turned this feature to their advantage: young people set a certain ringtone on their smartphone, with which they can receive SMS in class, while the teacher does not suspect anything. 
25. It turns out that each human ear hears differently. At the same time, it independently supplies information to the corresponding hemisphere of the brain (the right ear to the left hemisphere and vice versa).
26. Near the human ear there are channels that perform the functions of a gyroscope and help a person navigate in space and maintain balance. 
27. Men are more likely to have hearing problems at a young age than women. All thanks to the costs of the profession because they often work in places that violate noise pollution standards. 
28. Overeating from all five senses has an impact specifically on hearing. 
29. The first precious earrings were worn by sailors so that after death they could be buried with dignity.
30. When frightened, sulfur is released more intensely.
31. Absolute hearing does not depend on the condition of the ears, but on the perception of sounds by the brain.
32. It turns out that it is the ears that give off heat to the external environment. Therefore, people who live in cold climates have smaller ears than those who live in warm countries.
This is a complex and amazingly accurate mechanism that allows you to perceive various sounds. Some people have very sensitive hearing by nature, which is capable of capturing the most precise intonations and sounds, while others, as they say, “have a bear in their ear.” But how does the human ear work?? Here's what the researchers write.
Outer ear
The human hearing system can be divided into the outer, middle and inner ear. The first part makes up everything that we see externally. The outer ear consists of the auditory canal and the auricle. The inside of the ear is designed in such a way that a person begins to perceive various sounds. It consists of a special cartilage that is covered with skin. The lower part of the human ear has a small lobe made of fatty tissue.
There is an opinion that it is in the area of the outer ear and auricle that biologically active points are located, but this theory has not been precisely confirmed. It is for this reason that it is believed that ears can only be pierced by a competent specialist who knows the coordinates. And this is another mystery - how the human ear works. After all, according to Japanese theory, if you find biologically active points and massage or influence them using acupuncture, you can even treat some diseases.
The outer ear is the most vulnerable part of this organ. She is often injured, so she needs to be regularly monitored and protected from harmful influences. The auricle can be compared to the outer part of the speakers. It receives sounds, and their further transformation already occurs in the middle ear.
Middle ear
It consists of the eardrum, malleus, incus and stapes. The total area is about 1 cubic centimeter. You will not be able to see externally how the human middle ear works without special instruments, since this area is located under the temporal bone. The middle ear is separated from the outer ear by the eardrum. Their function is to produce and transform sounds, as happens inside a speaker. This area connects to the nasopharynx via the Eustachian tube. If a person has a stuffy nose, this invariably affects the perception of sounds. Many people notice that their hearing deteriorates sharply during a cold. And the same thing happens if the middle ear area is inflamed, especially with diseases such as purulent otitis media. Therefore, it is important to take care of your ears during frosts, as this can then affect your hearing for the rest of your life. Thanks to the Eustachian tube, pressure in the ear is normalized. If the sound is very strong, it may rupture. To prevent this from happening, experts advise opening your mouth during very loud sounds. Then the sound waves do not completely enter the ear, which partially reduces the risk of rupture. This area can only be seen by an otolaryngologist using special instruments.
Inner ear
How does the human ear work? which is deep inside? It resembles a complex labyrinth. This area consists of the temporal part and the bone part. Externally, this mechanism resembles a snail. In this case, the temporal labyrinth is located inside the bone labyrinth. The vestibular apparatus is located in this area, and it is filled with a special fluid - endolymph. The inner ear is involved in transmitting sounds to the brain. This same organ allows you to maintain balance. Disorders in the inner ear can lead to an inadequate reaction to loud sounds: headaches, nausea and even vomiting. Various brain diseases, such as meningitis, also cause similar symptoms.
Hearing hygiene
To ensure that your hearing aid lasts as long as possible, doctors advise you to follow these rules:
Keep your ears warm, especially when it’s frosty outside, and don’t walk in cold weather without a hat. Remember that in such a situation, the ear area may suffer the most;
Avoid loud and sharp sounds;
Do not try to clean your ears yourself with sharp objects;
If your hearing deteriorates, headaches occur due to sharp sounds and discharge from the ears, you should consult an otolaryngologist.
By following these rules, you can preserve your hearing for a long time. However, even with the modern development of medicine, not everything is known about , How does the human ear work? Scientists continue research and are constantly learning a lot about this organ of hearing.
