The Science of Hearing: 2. How Do Our Ears Break?

Tinnitus

Tinnitus warning sign
Remember high doses of noise may not only damage your hearing, it may also cause you to experience “tinnitus”. Tinnitus is when you experience ringing, buzzing or other sounds in one or both of your ears that doesn’t come from an external sound in your environment. Other people usually cannot hear the tinnitus sounds. If your ears ring or buzz after exposure to loud sounds, you may have been listening too loud for too long. The tinnitus simulator plays an example of a tinnitus sound that someone might hear. Tinnitus may go away after a short time, or it may persist indefinitely.

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Here is the tinnitus simulator played previously in the video. It is an example of a tinnitus sound that someone might hear. Tinnitus may go away after a short time, or it may persist indefinitely.
percentage of tinnitus quote
If you want to hear it again, make sure your volume level is set to a comfortable listening level and press play. Press stop at any point to end the simulation or sooner if you find the sound uncomfortable to listen to.

Tinnitus Simulator:

2. How Do Our Ears Break?

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Tuning fork iconThe ear is designed to collect air-borne sound vibrations in the outer ear, convert them to mechanical vibrations in the middle ear and ultimately transform the sound energy into electrical signals in the inner ear that are transmitted through the hearing nerve up to the brain where sound is ultimately decoded and understood.

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You’ve learned the anatomy of the ear and how these structure function to enable us to hear.

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Tuning fork iconIf the sound waves entering the cochlea have enough power, they will disrupt or destroy the hair cells and other structures of the inner ear. This results in a temporary or permanent hearing loss and can also cause tinnitus.

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