The Science of Sound

Have you ever wondered how you can tell which direction a sound is coming from? Well the reason is that you have two ears. If an object on you left makes a sound, the sound arrives at your left ear sooner than your right. Your brain can detect this difference and tell you which direction the sound has come from.

And have you every wondered how that sound gets to your brain?

Well when you listen to a radio the sound waves travel from the radio to your ear. Your outer ear channels the waves inside to your eardrum. The eardrum is a very thin sheet of skin. The sound vibrations move the eardrum back and forth. The eardrum passes this movement on to tiny bones in the middle ear. The movement of the bones causes fluid and tiny hairs to move inside the inner ear. The inner ear sends signals to the brain and the brain understands these signals as sound from your radio.

PHEW there is an amazing amount of stuff going on in your head that allows you to hear.

You can learn heaps from the book Sound so take a look. There are even some great experiments that you can try.