Why can ears hear sounds

Perhaps many children will ask questions that we think are normal, such as why can ears hear sounds? But if your child asks this question, it might take a long time to answer. In fact, people can hear all kinds of sounds, not because we only see the ears, but because of the system inside the ear. The eardrum, external auditory canal, etc. are all important components. The lack of any part will hinder hearing.

The reason why human ears can hear sounds

People can hear various sounds through a complex set of auditory organs - ears. The ear is divided into three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear includes the auricle, external auditory canal and eardrum. The auricle is what we usually call the ear, and it has the function of collecting sound waves. When the sound waves are collected into the ear through the auricle, they first vibrate the eardrum, and then the vibration of the eardrum is transmitted to the inner ear through the three auditory bones in the middle ear. The inner ear is the most peripheral part of the auditory nerve. The sound waves transmitted from the middle ear stimulate the endings of the auditory nerve, making it excited. The excitement is transmitted along the auditory nerve to the auditory center of the cerebral cortex, and people can hear the sound.

Causes of Deafness

The ear is the organ of hearing among the five senses of the human body (the organ of balance is also in the ear). It can sense all kinds of sounds in nature. Imagine how painful it is for a deaf-mute person to face a silent world! At present, there are about 50 million deaf-mute people in my country. Therefore, it is very necessary to popularize perinatal hearing health knowledge, achieve eugenics, and improve the overall health quality of the nation.

If you want to know how to protect your hearing, you must first understand the causes of deafness and the types of deafness there are. According to the nature of deafness, it can be roughly divided into three types:

1. Conductive hearing loss

2. Sensorineural hearing loss

3. Mixed deafness

Conductive hearing loss

Deafness caused by obstacles in the conduction of sound due to congenital or acquired reasons is called conductive deafness. Common diseases include: congenital external and ear malformations, various types of otitis media, ear trauma, ear wax embolism, otosclerosis, etc.

Sensorineural hearing loss

Deafness is caused by inner ear deformities or lesions due to congenital or acquired reasons, which cause the nerves to transmit auditory signals to the auditory center of the brain, resulting in obstruction. Common diseases include: congenital inner ear malformations, drug-induced deafness, viral infections (mumps, etc.), blast-induced deafness, noise-induced deafness, sudden deafness, presbycusis, acoustic neuroma, etc. Among these, drug-induced deafness is the most common. For example, many children become deaf and dumb due to improper use of streptomycin.

Mixed hearing loss

Its characteristic is that it has the characteristics of both types of deafness mentioned above. Common diseases include: suffering from otitis media for many years without systematic treatment, which eventually leads to mixed deafness.

There is also the saying "nine out of ten deaf people are dumb", which actually does not mean that a person loses the ability to speak when he loses his hearing. Rather, if a person cannot obtain information from the outside world through hearing, then there is no point in speaking and he no longer needs to communicate with others. Over time, he will lose the awareness of speaking. Because deafness leads to muteness, there is a saying that "nine out of ten deaf people are mute."

Daily ear protection methods

In life, many ear diseases can be prevented. Here are some ear care measures related to daily life to prevent the occurrence of ear diseases.

1. Get rid of the habit of picking your ears. Ear picking can cause damage to the ear canal and eardrum, and sometimes lead to infection and hearing loss.

2. Prevent water from flowing into your ears when washing your hair or taking a bath. Because the skin and eardrum are soaked in water, coupled with the stimulation of cerumen (commonly known as earwax), it is easy to cause otitis externa. If the eardrum is perforated, water entering the ear may cause a recurrence of otitis media.

3. A physical examination is required before swimming in summer. People with diseases such as otitis externa, otitis media, external auditory canal cerumen embolism, and tympanic membrane perforation should only swim after correction.

4. Strictly prevent infection in case of ear trauma or frostbite. Especially Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection, because this bacteria can cause auricular perichondritis, cartilage necrosis, and eventually lead to auricular deformity (cauliflower ear).

5. Stay away from noise and explosion sites. (including setting off firecrackers), because loud noises can cause noise-induced hearing loss, while explosions can cause blast-induced hearing loss.

6. Stay away from tobacco, alcohol and ototoxic drugs. (such as streptomycin, gentamicin, kanamycin, etc.) because they are toxic to the auditory nerve.

7. Viral infection. (such as measles, mumps, herpes zoster oticus, etc.) are often complicated by sensorineural hearing loss, and preventive measures should be taken in time. 8. Avoid hitting the head. You should not hit your ears. The former may be accompanied by hearing loss, and the latter may cause rupture of the eardrum. In life, it is not uncommon for ear function to be damaged due to external force.