Can someone briefly describe how we hear sound?

Question

Can someone briefly describe how we hear sound?

Answer 1

Our vocal cords send out vibrations (every sound sends out vibrations, but I'm using vocal cords as an example) that our ears are specifically designed to be able to pick up. Basically, we have little hairs deep inside of our ears that vibrate when a sound hits them, transmitting the sound wave into our brain where it processes.

Answer 2

Sounds are caused by the to-fro motion of molecules present in our surroundings. And when that vibrations reach our ears we hear. Our ears have many parts which respond to the brain when vibrations reach them.

Answer 3

As any other sensor in our body, hearing translates external physical variable to nerve electric impulse and it is fed to the brain for interpretation.   The principle is simple.  Air pressure waves reach the tympanum that mechanically transfer such pressure to the cochlea that vibrates its internal liquid and its tiny thousands of sensors. The sensors are distributed along all the cochlea. The cochlea is curly as a caracole.  Traveling into the cochlea, the high frequencies will be filtered and disappear. Far into the cochlea only low frequencies travel. So, inner sensors are for low frequencies, external sensors for high frequencies, middle cochlea for middle frequencies.  Your brain receives all the sensors vibration, it needs to learn how to discriminate such frequencies.

Answer 4

Sound is carried on a Medium, such as Air, it moves in Waves, like the Ocean.  When these Sound Waves reach the Ear Drum they are transferred into Impulses that travel up the Auditory Nerve to the Brain where they are then transferred back into sound by the Brain.  Sound travels at 1,100 Feet/Second, whereas Light travels at 186,000 Miles/Sec

Answer 5

Sounds are vibrations... So our ears decode the vibrating air molecules to form sound.

Answer 6

The word "sound" is pretty abstract.  We infer it is something tangible because of the way our senses perceive it.  Really it is only vibrations.  A physical object vibrates, such as a guitar string or a speaker, and the air molecules around it start vibrating in the same fashion.  The "wave" of vibrations travel away from its source.  If you are in the vicinity of the wave, the vibrations make it to your ear.  Inside your ear you have a complex set of sensitive bones and cavities that translate the vibrations of the air around you into nerve impulses that the brain can understand.  The outer ear helps to collect the sound like a funnel.  Sound waves can move through fluids and other substances as well.  It does not exist without something to travel through...  for example, you could not hear sound in the vacuum of outer space.