The Science of Song: How and Why We Make Music

The Science of Song: How and Why We Make Music — page 3
HEARING THINGS To understand music you have to understand how we hear sound Sound is the energy objects make when they vibrate As those vibrations travel through the air your ears pick them up and send signals to your brain GETTING AN EARFUL 1 A sound enters the ear and travels through the auditory canal Thanks to its shape the outer ear can hear noises from every direction 2 In the middle ear a thin membrane called the eardrum moves causing the ossicles three tiny bones to vibrate These vibrations move into the inner ear 3 The vibrations hit a small fluid filled bone called the cochlea It has about 17,000 tiny hairs that bend and create electrical signals that are sent along the auditory nerve to the brain Finally the brain translates those signals into a recognizable sound 1 2 3