Describe the photo of the single hair cell explaining the parts: hair cell body and hair bundle
We have as many as 18,000 hair cells in each ear and they have to last a lifetime
Each time we expose our ears to sounds that are too loud we do a little bit of damage that adds up over time
Discuss what tinnitus is and that it is also a consequence of exposure to loud sound
Discuss how difficult it is to hear things with a hearing loss
Build a Hair Cell Model
Hair cells can be permanently damaged by loud sound and can’t be fixed by medicine or surgery
Explain what a model is and use pipe cleaners to build a model of a hair cell and see what happens to the hair cell in loud noise
Attempt to repair the damaged hair bundle (pipe cleaners) and explain that the loud sound damage cannot be repaired. Hair cells do not grow back.
Hearing a very loud sound even one time can also cause you to lose some of your hearing
Show the picture of the damaged hair bundle and explain that this is what happens to real hair bundles when they are exposed to loud sound
Use your hand brushing across tops of pipe cleaners to represent sound waves
The fist represents a hair cell body when building a hair cell model
Tell a story about noise exposure throughout the day (morning, afternoon, evening)
The pipe cleaners represent the hair bundle when building the hair cell model
Show the picture of normal hair bundle

How much did you learn?