How Your Hearing Works

Gain a Better Understanding of Hearing Loss 

At Elite Hearing Centers of America, we believe that education is the most powerful weapon against hearing loss. In order to better understand what is happening when your hearing starts to decline, you should begin by understanding how hearing works in the first place. Even in the womb, we are able to hear noises, and the ear is already fully developed at birth. However, very few people understand how hearing works. Let's take a look at how hearing works and why hearing aids may be needed as you get older. Your hearing isn’t something you should leave to chance. If you feel your hearing has been compromised in any way or if you need a hearing test, contact us immediately.

The Parts of the Ear

To understand how hearing works, it can help to take a look at the different parts of the ear. These parts of the ear work in conjunction to pick up sound, process sound, and send it to the brain. There are three main parts of the ear. They include:

• The Outer Ear - The outer ear is made up of the ear canal and the eardrum. This is the part of the ear that is responsible for picking up sound. Sound vibrations travel through the ear canal down to the eardrum.
• The Middle Ear - The middle ear is the connection between the outer ear and the inner ear. It is made up of tiny bones known as ossicles. When sound hits the eardrum, it vibrates. This in turn vibrates the ossicles which causes fluid movement in the inner ear.
• The Inner Ear - The inner ear connects the middle ear all the way to the brain via the auditory nerve. Hair cells that are shifted when the ossicles cause fluid movement in the inner ear send impulses to the auditory nerve.

Making Sense of It All

The way we hear is very complicated. Without getting too technical, hearing is a series of impulses spurred by the generation of sound waves. The impulses occur in the different areas of our ear until they are sent to the brain where meaning is attached to the sounds. In essence, our ears convert sound waves that they pick up out of the air into electrical impulses. You can think of them as translators of sound to our brains.

Preserving How You Hear

The human ear is truly remarkable, and what it does for us is nothing short of spectacular. That’s why it’s so important to not only preserve your hearing, but to preserve the quality of your hearing. At Elite Hearing Centers of America, that’s exactly what we do. We use only the best hearing aids and the latest technology.

Contact Elite Hearing Centers of America

Take the first step towards preserving your precious hearing by finding an Elite Hearing Centers of America location near you today!