the human ear is good for lots of things; catching dust, combining your hair around, hanging jewelry from and nibbling
shaped and constructed to capture sound waves, to vibrate in sympathy with them, and to transmit all the information to the brain
outer ear
shaped to funnel sound waves to the eardrum
eardrum
a thin membrane that vibrates in response to sound waves and thereby, transmits them to middle and inner ears
middle ear
contains the eardrum and three small cones; the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup; which also transmits sound by vibrating
- it functions as an amplifier, it increases the magnitude of the air pressure
stirrup
attached to another vibrating membrane, the oval window
- the round window pushes out then the oval window pushes in, and it is pulled in when the oval window vibrates outward, thus balancing the pressure in the inner ear
inner ear
the oval window transmits vibrations into the inner ear, the bony tube called the cochlea
cochlea
shaped like a snail which contains two longitudinal membranes that divide into three fluid filled chambers
one of the membranes that lies coiled within the cochlea is called the basilar membrane
