The Ear (GCSE Physics)
The Ear
Human Hearing
For exams, you need to know about the process of human hearing.
- Sound waves reach the ear drum. When sound waves travel through the air, they will reach the ear drum. This is the first step in human hearing.
- Sound waves convert into ear drum vibrations. Once the sound waves have reached the ear drum, they will make the ear drum vibrate. The vibrations pass through the ear drum, causing bones to vibrate.
- Signals are sent to the brain. As the bones in the ear vibrate, the vibrations pass through a series of structures in the ear. Eventually these vibrations will reach the brain in the form of electrical signals. These electrical signals allow you to ‘hear’ the sound.
- The process works over limited frequencies. This process of hearing in humans will only occur over a limited frequency range. Since the frequency range is limited, this means that humans can hear some sounds but not others, so we are said to have a restricted range of hearing.
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