Skip to main content Text Size: sML   The pinna, auditory canal,
ear drum, malleus, incus, stapes, cochlea, auditory nerve, and
eustachian tube of the ear.  How do we hear?  Hearing depends on
a series of mechanical events that transform sound waves in the
air into electrical impulses in the nerves which are then
carried to the brain.    1. Sound waves first enter the ear
through the fleshy, cup-like portion of the outer ear which
collects sound and funnels it towards the brain.   2. These
sound waves then travel a few centimeters down the auditory
canal, the pathway to the middle ear, before striking the
delicate tympanic membrane, commonly known as the ear drum.   3.
This thin, skin-covered membrane, which separates the external
and middle sections of the ear, vibrates with incoming sound
waves and transmits these vibrations to three tiny bones in the
middle ear, collectively referred to as the ossicles. The
ossicles amplify ear drum vibration and carry them to the inner
ear.   4. More amazing than this smo