Causes and Effects of Hearing

Just minutes ago I was coming home from the mall with my mom, and out of the corner of my eye I saw something white move to the left of the road. When I turned my head to look I saw deer running full speed right into the lane of traffic we were traveling in. I gasped so hard my lungs couldn’t take in another molecule of air. I tried so hard just to utter the only word I could think of to say, ’deer’ but it seemed burried at the depths of my vocal chords.  In any other situation saying one simple word is so easy it barely needs a thought. Why now can’t I just spit out a one syllable, four letter word? With not even a split second left to spare, my mouth, brain and vocal chords teamed up and uttered the one word warning. It wasn’t loud like it should have been, more like a faint syllable as I exhaled. It was loud enough though; thank god hearing is instantaneous or I probably wouldn’t be sitting here typing right now.

The ear is a part of the human body that conducts more than just a single function. Its primary function is to hear, so that I have the ability to listen. This is a detailed and complex yet incredibly quick process. The ear is also the key aspect in my ablility to keep my balance. The sense of hearing shouldn’t be taken for granted; it is possible for hearing to deteriorate over time. Some people are born deaf, but hearing can also be lost due to illness.

Here’s what happened that allowed my mom to hear me say ‘deer’ and react by slamming on the breaks. First, her outer ear acted as a funnel by collecting the sound waves and sending them to her middle ear. Her bone called the stapes caused the oval window separating the middle and inner ear to vibrate. The vibrating sound waves cause the fluid in the inner ear to ripple. This bends the nerve endings called cilia to send impulses through the auditory nerve to the brain. My mom’s brain then translated the sounds into a recognizable word (The “How?” of Hearing). This entire process of hearing happens instantly; as soon as a sound wave hits my ear I can interpret what it means and react to it immediately.

It would be so unfortunate to be deprived of the sense of hearing. As I grow older, my sense of hearing will naturally decrease in effectiveness. Some people are born deaf, or loose their hearing due to illness. Another way I could lose my hearing or have poor hearing is from consistantly listening to extremely loud noises. I’m suprised my brother isn’t deaf already from how excrutiatingly loud he listens to music. When he plays his electric guitar in the basement the sounds given life by his fingers against the strings seep to the highest nook or cranny in the house before they finally fade to nothing. My uncle worked in the Harley Davidson factory in York, PA for most of his life. By the time he was in his early thirties he was in desperate need of hearing aids. His loss of hearing was caused by the incessant, literally deafening roar of motorcycle engines. Natural News suggests folic acid to help prevent hearing loss saying, “Folic acid – a B vitamin also known as folate – helps the body create new cells. Earlier studies have found that people with low intake of folic acid tend to have poor hearing” (NaturalNews.com).

 I know that my ears are critical to help me keep my sense of balance, but I’ve never understood why. There are canals in my ears that are full of liquid, and the liquid moves as I move my head. It then pushes against nerve endings which send messages to my brain and tell it how my body is moving (Your sense of hearing). This liquid is the reason why I feel dizzy when I stop spinning or suddenly stand up after laying down for a long period of time. I had a dancing role in the musical at my high school this weekend. The show was the Wizard of Oz, and for the tornado scence all of the dancers had to do chaines across the stage. The move is just a basic spin, and with a technique called spotting its not difficult to execute. Spotting is used while turning to prevent dizziness. Usually I find something to keep my eyes on in the direction that I’m going, and as I turn I snap my head around so I’m always looking at that object. But on a dim stage with flashing, colored lights it’s nearly impossible to find anything backstage to spot. Because of this I chained into the black curtain almost everytime, and had to sit down as soon as I got off stage to nurse my spinning head. I never really thought about how important this liquid in my ear really is, but without it I wouldn’t even be able to walk, let alone dance, something I enjoy so much.

Works Cited

Union Square Hearing, Inc. The Bay Area Hearing Center. The “How?” of Hearing. San Francisco Hearing Services. 2007. www.bayareahearingcenter.com/TheHowofHearing.htm

Natural News. Folic acid may help pervent hearing loss in old age, studies show. Truth Publishing International. 2008.  www.naturalnews.com/021410.html

Think Quest Junior. Your Sense of Hearing. www.library.thinkquest.org/3750/hear/hear.htm