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A first sentence warning. This scientific, educational article about hearing is going to mention God. The sense of vision, hearing, taste, touch and smell are remarkable abilities built into humans and other creatures. These five senses are dramatic evidence that a designer was involved in how we came to be. To suggest otherwise may be fashionable in smug academic circles, but it takes far more faith to believe that nothing created everything than in a Creator God. No one would suggest that a large magnet moved over a junk yard and a 757-jet plane rose out of the junk and yet every day such random concepts are taught about how we came to be and what we are like. The psalmist said, "We are fearfully and wonderfully made." Before I turn to the topic of hearing I want to draw your attention to a picture I have requested to be included on this page. It is a famous picture of a large circular stained-glass window in England, side by side with a slice of illuminated human DNA. The window had an artist designer, but the DNA does not?
We hear when acoustic energy enters our ear canal and vibrates our eardrum, a small oval shaped less than paper thin membrane, that transduces that energy into mechanical energy through the three small bones of the middle ear. By the way, these small bones are the smallest in the human body and are full sized at birth! The mechanical action of these bones sends the mechanical energy into the cochlea, the inner ear, where the energy is transduced to wave hydraulic energy.
This hydraulic wave motion is finally sent flowing over 17,000 microscopic inner ear hair follicles per ear that transduces the energy a final time into electro-chemical energy. This is sent up the auditory nerve to the brain which decodes it into sound that we can understand. This process happens in a millisecond!
"Compared to our eyes, human ears are considered significantly more sensitive, meaning they can detect much fainter stimuli, allowing us to hear a wider range of sound frequencies and volumes than we can see light intensities; essentially, our ears are generally considered the more sensitive sensory organ between the two. The spectrum of the ear is at least eight times greater than the eye. If we consider the width of power intensity perceived by the eye and the ear without causing instant damage, our ears can withstand around 130 dB which is about one trillion or a thousand billion units of power." (Acousticbulletin.com 03/24/2020). If our vision was as powerful as our hearing we could see bacteria with the naked eye!
Rejoice in this wonderful sense of hearing. Protect it from harmful excessive sounds and consider hearing aids if your diagnosis indicates your hearing will be improved. My oldest patient ever, a 103-year-old man who drove himself to the appointment in his red mustang, said "The voices of my family are priceless jewels, you are never too old to hear better!" He said that -- not me. Finally, and because Jesus really is the reason for the season, know that Larry King, the famous radio and TV interviewer, once said if he could interview anyone in the history of the world, he would choose to have a conversation with Jesus Christ. Larry, though Jewish, said he would ask Jesus if he really did die for the sin of humanity and rise again from the dead. Larry said if that really is true it is the most important thought that could ever enter our conscious minds.
Your hearing is a gift from God. Guard it, protect it and improve it if you are able.
Merry Christmas!
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Jeffrey L. Bayliff is owner of Hear the Birds Hearing Aid Centers in Lock Haven and State College.