Process
Ears are one of the sensory organs and are responsible for hearing and maintaining the body’s
equilibrium. The mechanism of hearing is nothing less than a step-by-step process that can be
understood with a detailed analysis of the different parts of the ears, including the outer ears,
middle ear and inner ear.
Mechanism of hearing
Sound waves enter the outer ear, pass through the middle ear and get processed in the inner ear.
Part of ear with function mentioned below:
Outer and Middle ear
The outer ear consists of the pinna, external auditory canal and tympanic membrane. The functions
of these parts are:
Pinna: The outer ear has excellent ears and glands that secrete wax and protect dust and
foreign materials from entering the ears
External auditory canal or meatus: It has wax glands and connects to the pinna outside and
the tympanic membrane in the inner ear
Tympanic membrane or eardrum: The connective tissues make a majority of the eardrum,
and the inner part is covered with mucous membrane while the outside is covered with skin
The middle ear amplifies the sound waves and consists of the malleus, incus, stapes, and the
Eustachian tube. The functions of these parts are:
Malleus is connected to the tympanic membrane and is a hammer-shaped bone
Incus is located between the stapes and malleus and is an anvil-shaped bone
Stapes: It is connected to the cochlea’s oval window and is stirrup-shaped. Further, it is the
smallest bone in the body
The Eustachian tube: It forms the link between the middle ear and pharynx and equalizes
the pressure of the middle ear and the outside atmosphere.
Inner ear
The inner ear consists of a collection of interconnected canals and sacs and is called the labyrinth.
The functions of these parts are:
Cochlea looks like a snail and is the membranous labyrinth’s coiled part. It comprises the
central cochlear duct or scala media, the upper vestibular canal or scala vestibuli, and the
lower tympanic canal or scala tympani
Reissner’s membrane: It separates scala vestibule and scala media
The organ of Corti: It is the auditory organ present in the scala media
The basilar membrane separates the scala media and tympani and contains hair cells
Stereocilia: These start from the hair cells and reach the cochlear duct
Vestibular apparatus: It has two chambers resembling sac called utricle and saccule and has
three semicircular canals
What is the mechanism of hearing?
It can be understood with the following steps:
The pinna receives the sound waves and these waves reach the tympanic membrane from
the meatus
The vibrations from the eardrum are transmitted to the three ossicles of the middle ear
The sound waves amplification is ensured by the malleus, incus and stapes
The amplified sound vibrations reach the scala vestibuli lymph by the oval window
The pressure waves reach the basilar membrane by passing through the scala media’s
endolymph and then to the scala tympani’s perilymph. This fluid movement is facilitated by
the round window located at the end of the scala tympani
The rubbing of stereocilia with the tectorial membrane is caused due to the basilar
membrane movement
The plasma membrane’s ion channels present in hair cells are opened with the bending of
stereocilia. The movement inside the cells causes the release of a neurotransmitter i.e.,
glutamate
The depolarization of neurons occurs as the neurotransmitters stick to the receptors of
afferent neurons, which connect with hair cells. This generates a nerve impulse that is
transmitted to the auditory nerve to reach the brain’s auditory cortex
The vibrational impulse from the inner ear is converted into an electrical impulse. The brain
analyzes these electrical impulses, coming from the inner ears. That’s how we hear sounds
It further gives an idea of the sound’s direction, pitch and loudness
The mechanism and physiology of hearing
When we discuss the mechanism and physiology of hearing, we know that ears are responsible for
the additional role of equilibrium maintenance. The hearing function has been maintained by the
organ of Corti, which is present inside the cochlea. Static equilibrium has been maintained by
maculae and dynamic equilibrium has been maintained by cristae. The static equilibrium is managed
by the utricle and macula of the saccule. The otoliths push against the stereocilia because of the
gravitational pull and stimulate the nerve impulse initiation. The cristae of semicircular canals
further detect the dynamic equilibrium.
