Hearing...
The sense that brings attention to sounds around the campfire...
The boiling fluid, struggling to squeeze out of the wood and escape from the heat of the fire. Each molecule gaining more and more energy, sizzling and drooling, pushing its way out. They want to break free. Reaching its limits the trapped vapour, fights its way out. Pop. The vapour is free. Crackle, and now it is burnt away.
My question today is, what happens when we are hearing?
References:
http://www.austincc.edu/apreview/PhysText/PNSafferentpt2.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/z8d2mp3/revision/2
http://www.hearinglink.org/your-hearing/how-the-ear-works/
http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-does-wood-crackle-when-it-burns/
http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/0072495855/student_view0/chapter19/animation__effect_of_sound_waves_on_cochlear_structures__quiz_1_.html -
Good to see you are a poet as well as a scientist Rachael!
ReplyDeleteI know that when we SEE, our eyes get a fairly imprecise image (a few gaps, imperfections etc) and our brain adjusts this by filling in the gaps so that we perceive a more perfect picture. Is it the same with hearing??? I have not thought about this before...
Sound is detected in our ears but is put together in our brain. In our brain we have specialised neurons, which respond to different types of sound. For example, long or short sounds, high or low sounds, sounds that get higher or lower. These specialised neurons coupled with other neurons in the brain, combine all the different bits of information, so that we can recognise the difference between words, different voices or different instruments etc.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.brainfacts.org/sensing-thinking-behaving/senses-and-perception/articles/2012/hearing/