Allow me to help you understand how the human ear works. Also this is an excerpt from my book Essential sound principles.
Three sections form our ear. These are the outer, middle, and inner ear. The outer ear directs sound into the middle ear. The middle ear has bones that help amplify sound. There are muscles in the inner ear to help protect/defend it in cases of loud volumes.
The human ear is essentially a transducer, a component that turns one form of energy into another form of energy. When sound waves enter the outer ear and travel through the canal into the eardrum, the eardrum vibrates. These vibrations are sent to the middle ear which has 3 bones. These bones amplify the sound’s vibrations and which are then sent to the cochlea, which is filled with fluid. The cochlea has a basilar membrane.
Now here’s where the magic happens; the vibrations cause the fluid to ripple, for example when you throw a stone into water. The wave from the ripple goes along the basilar membrane. The basilar membrane has different hair cells that detect higher-pitched and lower-pitched sounds. As the hair cells move, stereocilia found on top of the hair cells start bending. And when they start bending, the pores at the tips of the stereocilia open up. When this happens, chemicals rush into the cells creating an electric signal.
This electrical signal is then carried to the brain to then be recognized and understood.
For more information buy the book Essential Sound Principles by Edison Muhwezi
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