1.47. Hearing and Balance http://www.ck12.org
1.47 Hearing and Balance
- Explain how the ears hear and help maintain balance.
Feeling dizzy?
Have you ever gotten off a spinning ride at an amusement park and felt dizzy? Why does this happen? It actually
all goes back to your ears! When you stop spinning, the fluid in the canals of your ears is still moving. Sensing the
position of the liquid in the canals usually helps you keep balance, so spinning the fluid throws you off balance.
Hearing and Balance
What do listening to music and riding a bike have in common? It might surprise you to learn that both activities
depend on your ears. The ears do more than just detect sound. They also sense the position of the body and help
maintain balance.
Hearing
Hearingis the ability to sense sound. Sound travels through the air in waves, much like the waves you see in
the water pictured below (Figure1.91). Sound waves in air cause vibrations inside the ears. The ears sense the
vibrations.
The human ear is pictured below (Figure1.92). As you read about it, trace the path of sound waves through the ear.
Assume a car horn blows in the distance. Sound waves spread through the air from the horn. Some of the sound
waves reach your ear. The steps below show what happens next. They explain how your ears sense the sound.
- The sound waves travel to theear canal. This is a tube-shaped opening in the ear.