What is Sound?

Sound is a form of energy, just like electricity, heat or light. When you strike a bell, it makes a loud ringing noise.
Now instead of just listening to the bell, put your finger on the bell after you have struck it. Can you feel it
shaking? This movement or shaking, i.e. the to and fro motion of the body is termed as Vibration. The sound
moves through a medium by alternately contracting and expanding parts of the medium it is travelling through.
This compression and expansion creates a minute pressure difference that we perceive as sound. Let’s take a
look at one of our five senses .i.e, Hearing.

Sound Wave (Longitudinal Wave) Travelling

Ear Diagram

Hearing is a sense endowed to us, thanks to the presence of the human auditory system. This auditory system
gives us the ability to perceive sound by detecting vibrations in the surrounding medium. The vibration as
mentioned earlier consists of minute pressure variations. How the human ear converts pressure difference into a
perception is fascinating. We will now take a closer look at how this is achieved. We are going to start where a
sound wave would start and follow it on its journey from outside of our ear all the way to our brain.

Outer Ear
When you see someone, all you see is a very small part of a very complex mechanism. The flaps of cartilage are
known as the Pinna. These folds of cartilage help reflect the incoming sound waves and also affect its intensity.
This effect allows the brain to figure out direction of the source of the sound. The pinna is the opening to the ear
Canal. The ear canal is a small cylindrical tube about 2.5 centimetres long. This canal leads to a vibrating
membrane commonly known as eardrum. The eardrum marks the beginning of middle Ear.

Middle Ear
The sound waves striking the eardrum create a vibration in the air filled cavity of the middle ear. The sound
waves are in the form of pressure differences and are transferred from here to the cochlea in the inner ear by the
means of three of the smallest bones in the Human Body. They are called Malleus (Hammer), Incus (Anvil) and
Stapes (Stirrups). Stapes takes the award for the smallest bone in the human body. The sound here is still in
wave form. The sound information is transferred to the Cochlea in the Inner Ear.

Inner Ear
Cochlea consists of several fluid-filled sac like structures. The ear structures are covered with tiny hair and these
convert the wave information into a form that we can understand. It is here that the sound wave is converted into
nerve impulses that is sent to the brain via the auditory nerve. This electrical impulse is perceived by us that
leads to our sense of hearing.
Hearing Range
So while it seems you can hear a sounds immediately, it travels a long way before it is understood and becomes
hearing. Hearing is the ability to perceive sound by detecting the minute changes in pressure. This done with the
help of organs such as ear. It is one of our five sense and it defines how we see and experience the world around
us.

Hearing Range refers to the range of frequencies that can be detected or heard by human or any other animal in
consideration. The human ear and auditory system can detect frequencies between 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. This
range is different for different animals. Dolphins for example can hear sound waves of frequencies up to 100 kHz.