While I’m typing this I can hear the buzz of the turned on electric fan, the tiny ticks of the Computer keyboard and water dripping from the outside.
They are all different sounds but they like a combined tones, they create unique harmony.
Have you ever thought how the ear works so that we can enjoy a soul satisfying music like in an orchestra?
The answer is found in the snail shape part of your ear called the, COCHLEA.
To understand this, Let’s have a quick tour to your ears!
THREE PARTS OF THE EAR
Basically there are three major parts!
(GREEN)- The External ear starts from the helical shape that you can see to a 3.5cm long ear canal and your eardrum!
(BLUE)- Second, the Middle ear is composed of the three tiniest bones in your body known as the ossicles: malleus, incus, and stapes which make vibrations passing to the
(ORANGE)- Inner ear majorly the, cochlea, which the brain relays on to hear different sounds!
[image source: http://teachmeanatomy.info/head/organs/ear/middle-ear/]
COCHLEA HAS FREQUENCY
Each of the sound we hear represents a single “frequency” called “Hertz (Hz)”.
For example when you hear clapping hands that has low frequency while you also hear a boiling kettle with high frequency. All of these sounds will pass through your ear canal until they reaches your cochlea. Now, check this one! In the cochlea has basilar membrane which does the tuning!
Let’s take a closer look inside your cochlea.
[image source: https://www.britannica.com/science/inner-ear]
As you can see from the base to the apex there are a specific hertz flowing from high to low. The base is stimulated with high frequency while the apex is activated by very low frequency sounds.
That means every sound we hear triggers a corresponding hertz in your cochlea which has hundreds of hair cell inside that will generate action potential to the auditory cortex of your brain.
FROM COCHEAL TO THE BRAIN
How will the brain read the sounds?
The auditory nerve travels to the pea shaped side part of your brain, it will then separate its fibers that reach different parts of the auditory cortex also known as tonotopic mapping, so that we can enjoy each sounds.
See this one below!
[image source: https://medium.com/@mosaicofminds/maps-in-the-brain-f236998d544f]
As a Christian this also is one of the most amazing realizations that made me know more about the God that we worship, it says He is a God of order in 1 Cor. 14:40 and Indeed, that makes sense! We are made from an intelligent design that means, we are all destined for greatness!
God bless Steemians!