Sound is a mechanical wave that travels through air and is characterized by its frequency (pitch) and amplitude (loudness). The outer ear collects sound waves and funnels them through the ear canal to the eardrum in the middle ear, where they are transmitted to the three tiny bones (ossicles) that amplify the sound. The vibrations are then transferred to the cochlea in the inner ear, which is lined with hair cells that detect different frequencies of sound. Place theory suggests that different frequencies of sound activate different areas along the cochlea, while frequency theory proposes that the rate of neuron firing matches the frequency of sound. The auditory cortex in the brain processes these neural signals and helps us interpret and understand the sounds we hear.
