Hearing is really nothing more than sound waves turning into vibrations in your ear. Let’s take the example of a dog barking. When a dog barks the soundwaves travel to your middle ear hitting your eardrum which creates a chain reaction of movement and vibration toward your inner ear. The sound waves first hit your eardrum, and then the eardrum sends the vibration down the chain of command; first to your hammer, then your anvil, then to the stirrup.

The inner ear’s job is to carry the sound information from the cochlea to the brain. The inner ear consists of the cochlea (it resembles a very small snail) and the auditory nerve (which is the information messenger between the cochlea and brain). Using tiny hair cells, the auditory nerve deciphers and transmits sound waves into nerve impulses that your brain can understand. Once your brain receives the nerve impulses, it interprets it as a dog barking, and you “hear” the dog. This entire process happens instantaneously without you even knowing it happened. The same process happens for every noise, from the sound of typing on the keyboard to a plane going overhead. It’s quite impressive!

Unfortunately, those little hairs that are inside the inner ear are subject to damage from certain drugs, extremely loud noise, or even certain diseases. And once those little hairs are gone they cannot be regrown. However, hearing aids can help!

Our hearing specialists are trained to help diagnose which part of your ear is not working properly. If you are noticing hearing loss, contact us today. We want to help you choose the right solution for your hearing loss.