All Ears: Fun Facts About Your Hearing

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  • Question 1/9
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    When a song gives you goosebumps, it may be because your body thinks you’re:

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    When a song gives you goosebumps, it may be because your body thinks you’re:

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    Opera singers are trained to hit the same frequency and pitch of a human scream. Even though you’re not scared, your body may think you should be. Music isn’t the only thing that can cause these chills, also known as frisson. A roller coaster, hot bath, or fingernails on a chalkboard can do the same thing.

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    The one with the most sensitive hearing is:

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    The one with the most sensitive hearing is:

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    This insect can hear frequencies up to 300 kilohertz -- about 100 higher than some bats, and Fido isn’t even close. Dogs hear frequencies up to about 60 kilohertz, and humans only up to 20.

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    Your inner ear has rocks in it.

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    Your inner ear has rocks in it.

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    They’re tiny crystals. And if they move out of place, you can feel dizzy and like your head is spinning. This is called vertigo. It can happen for many reasons, like hitting your head, a migraine, ear surgery, or spending a long time on your back. You’re more likely to get it as you get older. It may go away on its own, but if not, there are treatments to help.

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    Sound waves make your eardrums:

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    Sound waves make your eardrums:

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    The shape of your outer ear helps capture and direct these waves into your eardrum. The vibrations then pass through the tiny bones in your middle ear (called ossicles) to the innermost part of your ear (called the cochlea.)

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    The cochlea is shaped like a:

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    The cochlea is shaped like a:

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    It’s full of tiny hair cells and fluid that pick up on the eardrum’s vibrations and send signals to your brain. There, your brain turns them into something you can understand: sound.

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    Your ears help you stay balanced because they:

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    Your ears help you stay balanced because they:

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    Canals and organs in your inner ear have sensors that tell your brain if you're staying still, moving side to side, or going up or down.

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    Hearing loss from listening to loud music will get better over time.

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    Hearing loss from listening to loud music will get better over time.

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    Turn down the volume on your earbuds and don’t use them for hours at a time. Noise can hurt the tiny hairs in your cochlea, and messages won’t get to your brain like they should.

     

    The damage happens slowly, so it can take a while for you to notice it. Talk to your doctor if you have ringing, buzzing, or roaring in your ears or muffled hearing.

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    To keep your ears from getting plugged when you’re flying, don’t do this during landing:

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    To keep your ears from getting plugged when you’re flying, don’t do this during landing:

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    If the air pressure on both sides of your eardrum isn’t equal, your ear feels blocked. Yawning and swallowing are great ways to even out the pressure. If you’re asleep, you may not swallow enough to keep things stable.

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    A few drops of this can help soften and unblock earwax:

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    A few drops of this can help soften and unblock earwax:

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    Hydrogen peroxide and baby oil are other home remedies you can try if your ears feel full or blocked. And over-the-counter kits can help flush it out, too. Make sure the water or saline is room temperature, though. If it’s too cold or hot, it might make you dizzy. Don’t put cotton swabs in your ear canal. Ever.

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    Your Score:

    You correctly answered out of questions.

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    Good job! You must be a good listener.

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    Not bad, but you might need to listen to the facts a little more closely.

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    When it comes to hearing, your ears might be a little clogged.

Sources | Reviewed by Shelley A. Borgia, CCCA on June 25, 2018 Medically Reviewed on June 25, 2018

Reviewed by Shelley A. Borgia, CCCA on
June 25, 2018

IMAGE PROVIDED BY:

1) PhotoAlto / Odilon Dimier / Getty Images

 

SOURCES:

AG Bell Academy for Listening and Spoken Language: “How Hearing Works.”

American Academy of Otolaryngology: “Ears and Altitude,” “Earwax and Care.”

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association: “How Our Balance System Works.”

Georgia State University Physics and Astronomy: “Sensitivity of Human Ear.”

Kids Health: “Earbuds.”

LiveScience: “Moth with Ultrasonic Hearing Discovered.”

Mayo Clinic: “Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).”

Neuroscience for Kids: “Amazing Animal Senses.”

Stanford University: “Scholar explores mystery of ‘music-evoked frisson.’”

University of California San Francisco: “Caloric Stimulation.”

Walther, LE. Journal of Vestibular Research , 2007.

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