Page 129 - DK Children's Encyclopedia
P. 129

Hearing                                                                           SEE ALSO

                                                                                               ▸ ▸ Brain  p.45
                                                                                               ▸ ▸ Communication
           Hearing happens when our ears receive a sound. Sound is a                            p.69
           vibration that travels through the air and into our ears. The                       ▸ ▸ Human body
           sound travels into the hidden parts of the ear and our brain                         p.130

           identifies what we hear.                                                            ▸ ▸ Music  pp.176–177
                                                                                               ▸ ▸ Radio  p.203

                                                                                               ▸ ▸ Sound  p.235

                          The ear
                          The ear is much bigger than it looks
       The ears are       from the outside. The inner ear and
       shaped like cups    outer ear are hidden inside our heads.                         The smallest
       to catch sound.                                                                  bone in your ear
                                                                  Inside the ear         is the size of a
                                                                                        grain of rice.


                                                   2. Ear drum       3. Bones
                                                   The ear drum is    Three tiny bones                5. Nerve
                                                   a tiny disk with   called the ossicles             This nerve sends
                                                   skin stretched    pass the vibrations              sounds to the brain
                                                   over it. It picks up   along.                      as electrical signals.
           Outer ear
                                                   sound vibrations.









                                                                                      Inner ear



                 1. Ear canal                                                 Middle ear
                 Sound vibrates
                 through the air
                 and into the ear.
                                                                                                             The curled
                                                                                                             part of the
                                                                                                             inner ear is
                                                                                                             called the
                                                                          4. Inner ear                       cochlear.
                                                                          The inner ear
                                                                          contains liquid-filled
                                                                          tubes. The vibrations
                             Brilliant brain                              move through the
                             The brain makes sense                        liquid and tiny hair
                                                                          cells in the cochlear
                             of the signals from the                      detect the sounds.
                             ear. For example, if
                             someone is talking to us,
                             the brain works out what
                             the meaning of the
                             sounds are.




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   US_127_Hearing.indd   127                                                                                     16/05/2017   09:48
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