{"id":3921,"date":"2018-04-06T14:55:22","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T21:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/houseprovidence.org\/?p=3921"},"modified":"2018-04-06T14:55:22","modified_gmt":"2018-04-06T21:55:22","slug":"how-does-hearing-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/househearing.com\/how-does-hearing-work\/","title":{"rendered":"How Does Hearing Work?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever looked at something that makes sound and wondered how the whole process works?<\/p>\n

How does sound travel through the air, enter your ear and somehow let your brain know you heard something?<\/p>\n

While many people take this process for granted, there are almost 48 million people in Los Angeles and around the country that don\u2019t. These are the people with hearing loss<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In order to fully understand your hearing loss, your Los Angeles audiologist recommends first learning how hearing works.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Three Parts of the Ear<\/h2>\n

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The ear is broken down into three sections: the inner, middle and outer ear. Each part plays an important role in hearing.<\/p>\n

The outer ear<\/a> represents the visible portion of the ear, which is responsible for collecting sound waves and funneling them into the ear canal.<\/p>\n

At the end of the ear canal is the tympanic membrane, also called the eardrum.<\/p>\n

When the sound wave hits the eardrum, the sound wave causes it to vibrate.<\/p>\n

The middle ear<\/a> includes everything between the eardrum and the auditory canal.<\/p>\n

When a sound wave hits the tympanic membrane, the vibration travels through a collection of bones called the ossicles.<\/p>\n

The ossicles are made up of the malleus, incus and stapes. These bones are attached to the oval window, which connects the middle and inner ear.<\/p>\n

The final section of the ear is the inner ear<\/a>. It contains the cochlea and the auditory nerve. The cochlea is lined with hairs and filled with fluid.<\/p>\n

The vibration transmitted from the eardrum causes the hairs within the cochlear to move.<\/p>\n

This movement creates an electric impulse, which travels down the auditory nerve to the brain. The brain then interprets this electrical input as sound.<\/p>\n

Types of Hearing Loss<\/h2>\n

Now that we have explained how hearing works, let\u2019s go into the types of hearing loss<\/a>. There are three types: conductive, sensorineural and mixed.<\/p>\n

Conductive hearing loss<\/a>\u00a0is caused by problems in the outer ear, ear canal, eardrum or middle ear. These problems can be caused by any of the following:<\/p>\n