![]() Vibrating objects (such as the human vocal chords or guitar strings) cause air molecules to bump into each other and produce sound waves, which travel from their source as peaks and valleys much like the ripples that expand outward when a stone is tossed into a pond. Just as the eye detects light waves, the ear detects sound waves. In a fraction of a second, our auditory system receives the sound waves, transmits them to the auditory cortex, compares them to stored knowledge of other voices, and identifies the identity of the caller. A mother can pick out her child’s voice from a host of others, and when we pick up the phone we quickly recognize a familiar voice. ![]() But the ear is particularly sensitive to sounds in the same frequency as the human voice. The human ear is sensitive to a wide range of sounds, ranging from the faint tick of a clock in a nearby room to the roar of a rock band at a nightclub, and we have the ability to detect very small variations in sound. Sound waves that are collected by our ears are converted into neural impulses, which are sent to the brain where they are integrated with past experience and interpreted as the sounds we experience. Like vision and all the other senses, hearing begins with transduction. Describe the process of transduction in hearing.Draw a picture of the ear and label its key structures and functions, and describe the role they play in hearing.
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