What is the hearing process in the human ear?
The hearing process begins with the sound around you in the form of vibrations or waves that are captured by the outer ear. Sound waves that enter the outer ear will travel through the ear canal to the eardrum or tympanic membrane.
The eardrum will vibrate due to incoming sound and send the vibrations to the small auditory bones in the middle ear.
The stirrup auditory bone (stapes) will send sound vibrations to the inner ear, namely the cochlea. These sound vibrations move the fluid in the cochlea and make the hair cells inside vibrate, thereby converting sound waves into electrical signals.
These electrical signals are transmitted by the auditory nerve to the brain and in the brain the hearing process takes place which analyzes and understands the sounds heard.
