Explain how sound travels from the pinna to the auditory nerve and to the brain, naming each part of the ear and its function along the way

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer will include that hearing begins with the pinna, the visible, external part of the ear. The pinna acts like a funnel to concentrate sounds and direct them into the ear canal. After the sound waves are guided into the ear canal, they collide with the tympanic membrane, or eardrum, setting it in motion. This, in turn, causes three small bones, the auditory ossicles, to vibrate. The ossicles are the malleus, incus, and stapes. Their common names are the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. The ossicles link the eardrum with the cochlea, a snail-shaped organ that makes up the inner ear. The stapes is attached to a membrane on the cochlea called the oval window. As the oval window moves back and forth, it makes waves in the fluid inside the cochlea. Tiny hair cells inside the cochlea detect the waves in the fluid. These hair cells are part of the organ of Corti, which makes up the center part of the cochlea. A set of stereocilia, or "bristles," atop each hair cell brush against the tectorial membrane when waves ripple through the fluid surrounding the organ of Corti. As the stereocilia are bent, nerve impulses are triggered, which flow to the brain through the auditory nerve.