Did You Know . . . ?

We usually focus on one topic per blog, but today we thought we’d bring you some interesting, fun and outright weird facts about your ears and hearing.

1. Our sense of hearing is unique because it is completely mechanical! Our other senses rely on chemical reactions to achieve their goals.  When sound waves hit our ear, it vibrates our eardrum, which then tickles our cochlea.  If our nose is a Tesla car, then our ears would be a 1960’s Chevy Pickup.
2. There is a chain of three tiny bones in your middle ear(known as ossicles), which also happen to be the tiniest bones in your entire body. These are commonly known as the anvil, hammer, and stirrup bones. The stirrup is the tiniest of these at only roughly 3mm. That’s half the size of a pencil eraser!
3. Speaking of pencil erasers, that is about the same diameter of your ear canal (6mm). Sound waves enter your ear canal and vibrate the eardrum. This causes the bones in your ear to move against the cochlea, which then triggers the auditory nerve. That’s how your brain senses sound.
4. There are thousands of super tiny hairs deep inside of your inner ear!These hairs take the vibrations made by sound waves and convert them into electrical signals to the brain. Unfortunately, these hairs don’t have a follicle which would allow them to grow back. Once they are damaged, they cannot repair themselves, resulting in hearing loss.
5. Ears are a self-cleaning organ. As new earwax builds up in your ear, it pushes the old earwax outwards. In fact, digging in your ear with Q-Tips or other objects can cause more harm than good. That’s because it can push back the earwax, causing a blockage in the ear canal. You should wait until wax is visible in the outer ear, and then wipe it out with a finger wrapped in a damp washcloth.
6. Earwax is actually a great thing!It protects your ears by collecting dust and debris and pushing it back out. Earwax also protects your ears from irritation caused by water, bacteria and fungi infections. Earwax is also a natural bug repellant, which helps keep the bugs out.
7. Each ear hears a little different. Your right ear is more efficient at listening to speech and the sound of voices, while your left ear is better suited for listening to music.  If you wear a single ear bud to listen to music at work, try putting it in your left ear.  This will allow your right ear to pick up your co-workers voices better.
8. You have crystals in your ears! This bit of trivia might sound odd at first, but deep inside your inner ear, there are tiny calcium crystals, known as otoconia.  These sit in the otolith organs and play a huge role in your sense of balance.
9. Exposure to loud noises (85+ decibels; e.g. lawn mowers, rock concert) over a long period of time is the number one cause of hearing loss.However, a single loud blast (140+ decibels; e.g. jet engine, 12ga shotgun) can instantly cause permanent hearing damage. Typically, ear pain will start to develop at around 125 decibels.
10. Your ears are always on, even while you are asleep.Your mind just chooses to ignore the sounds. A study done in 2012 shows that a person can learn to associate specific sounds while asleep. This has the potential to help find more efficient ways of learning.  Imagine learning these facts about hearing, but not remembering how you learned them.
11. Your ears don’t just hear, they also help you balance!The inner ear has three small loops called the semicircular canals. These loops are filled with a liquid and have thousands of tiny hairs which act like a motion sensor. As your head moves, the fluid sloshes around and tells your brain what position you are in. Learn more about how our ears help us balance.

12. The human ear can detect most sound frequencies, but they have their limits.The typical human frequency range is 20Hz to 20,000Hz, but our brains register anything above that as a buzzing or ringing noise. Your dog has a frequency range of 40Hz to 60,000Hz. That is why they can hear a dog whistle when we do not hear anything at all. 
13. High altitude affects your sense of hearing and balance.The Eustachian tube that connects your ears and nose cannot maintain equal pressure on both sides of your eardrum fast enough at high altitudes. This results in a vacuum behind the eardrum, which makes your ears feel blocked, sounds to be muffled, and possibly some disorientation.

14. Soundwaves hit your ear at 1,125 feet per second (or 343 meters per second)!It would take a noise loud enough to travel 1 mile approximately 5 seconds to reach your ear.  Tack on another 0.025 seconds for your brain to process that sound, and it will still only take roughly 5 seconds to hear that sound from a mile away.
15. Your eardrums are actually cone-shaped, not flat like a musical drum. They also never grow any larger from birth. A newborns eardrum is the same size as an adult, which is roughly the size of a dime. It moves less than a billionth of an inch in response to sound.
16. Your ears can change your sense of taste.Your sense of smell is still more power at changing your sense of taste.  However, the nerves from your tongue pass through your middle ear. People with ear infections, or who have had ear surgery, mention their sense of tastes had changed.
17. Dogs have about 18 muscles in their ears!Puppies are also born deaf!  It takes a few weeks for their ear canals to open up.  They also use their ears as an element of body language.  Ears pulled back indicate friendliness, while ears up and forward indicate aggression.  Okay, so we couldn’t resist adding a few doggy fun facts, too.
18. Headphones greatly increase bacteria growth in your ears.That’s because you are blocking natural air flow, which creates the perfect environment for bacteria to grow. Headphones also increase earwax buildup because it blocks wax from naturally falling out of your ear.  Let your ears breathe after every 20 minutes!
19. You are not actually hearing the ocean when you listen to a seashell. You already knew that wasn’t a real fact, though.  Did you know it is actually the sound of blood traveling through the veins in your ears?  The sound is very similar to the ocean, though.  Coincidence? Yeah, more than likely.

20. Your ear has a pretty sweet self-defense mechanism! There is a muscle in your ear called the Tensor Tympani.  When you start chewing food, it tenses up and pulls the tiny malleus (hammer) bone gently against your eardrum.  This helps dampen the loud chewing going on just below your ears!  It also causes the rumbling sound many people hear while yawning.