How do we hear sounds?

Music, a friend’s voice, a dog’s woof — your ears catch them all. But how does a wiggle in the air turn into a sound inside your head? Your ear has a clever little journey for it.

Catching the wave

The part of your ear you can see is shaped like a curvy cup. It scoops up sound waves and funnels them down a tunnel deep inside your head.

At the end of the tunnel is a thin, tight skin called the eardrum. When a sound wave reaches it, the eardrum wiggles back and forth, like the top of a tiny drum being tapped.

Passing the wiggle along

Behind the eardrum sit three of the smallest bones in your whole body. They are linked in a row. As the eardrum wiggles, it shakes the first bone, which shakes the next, which shakes the last — passing the wiggle deeper inside.

The wiggle reaches a curly part full of tiny hairs and fluid. There, the shake is turned into special signals.

Your brain hears it

Those signals zoom along a nerve to your brain. Your brain reads them in a flash and says, “That’s Mum calling!” or “That’s my favourite song!”

Wonder fact: The three little ear bones have funny names — the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup. The stirrup is the tiniest bone in your body, smaller than a grain of rice!