The hearing process has evolved for a period of time to give us critical sensory data which is vital in our day to day lives. Just like other sensory organs, the ear has been charged with the responsibility of gathering information from an individual’s surrounding and translating the gathered data into a manner that the brain can comprehend. With the help of the sound waves, the hearing process is initiated. The sound waves are the vital aspects that cause vibration in the air. The brain later interprets these vibrations in the air in three classes; gathering the vibrations, translating these vibrating in the form of mechanical energy and ultimately transmit each of this vibration into an electrical impulse which can be interpreted by the brain as a sound. Just as this process is divided into three, the ear can also be classified into three evident anatomical classes with their roles and responsibilities;

The inner ear

The inner ear plays a major role of sound interpretation from the cochlea which is a coiled chamber that has fluid. This coiled chamber has an oval window that segregates the inner ear from the middle ear. When the bone in the middle ear knocks the oval window sound is carried to the perilymph. With the movement of the perilymph, information is relayed to the brain to the auditory nerve and further interpreted as sound.

Middle ear

Attached to the three small bones of malleus, stapes and incus is the tympanic membrane. The three bones increase another sequence of strikes on the oval window which propels sound to the outer ear.

Outer ear

Through the external auditory canal and to the tympanic membrane which is the ear drum, sound waves are transferred with the help of the auricle. It is in the outer ear and in this process that the sound vibrations and transformed to mechanical energy.

All the above mentioned steps are vital in the hearing process. This is because the damage or the defect or the relationship failure of these structures could cause one to lose his sense of hearing.