The Hearing Mechanism

I'm going to take this next personal blog post to talk about my extreme fascination our human hearing mechanism. I am a Communication Sciences and Disorders major which encompasses audiology (hearing pathologies) and speech-language pathology. Right now I am in a hearing science class and a speech science class, so we've been learning more in dept about each mechanism and the physics behind them. I am extremely interested in the physics and an anatomy of the hearing system. It always surprises me that so much can happen in such a small space. The three middle ear bones (ossicles: malleus, incus, and stapes) are the smallest in the body and do SO much for our communication everywhere. This has greatly supported my belief in God. Seriously, how could we have such an intricate and precise way of communicating without something greater? (You don't have to answer, if you have an answer we can agree to disagree.) Not only the ossicles, but every part of the outer ear including the floppy part on the outside of your skull has a purpose. This part of the ear that you can see is called the pinne or auricle and every groove and indentation has a specific name as well as a specific purpose for directing sound into the ear canal. So all of this being said about hearing, the ear does more than than just transfer and manipulate sound waves. It contains the balance system in the body, also known as the vestibular system, we couldn't stand or walk strait without this system. It just truly amazes me how much is packed into such an extremely small space! Of course many could agree that our human anatomy is precious, but then why does the majority of our society continue to harm this system by listening to loud music (which causes permanent hearing loss) and using Qtips (which are not meant for the ear and can cause wax impaction as well as tympanic membrane perforation.) This will always be unclear to me. For now, I'll just continue to learn more about our amazing ears.