How the Ear Works - 
Nature's Solutions for Listening

William E. Brownell, Ph.D. 
Jake and Nina Kamin Chair and Professor 
Bobby R. Alford Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
Baylor College of Medicine 
Houston, Texas 

• Hearing - Survival & Society 
• A Brief History of Hearing - From Early Anatomy to Active Hearing 
• SOUND - Mechanical Vibrations - Pressure Waves 
• Getting Sound to the Inner Ear, the Analysis of Sound Begins 
• The Inner Ear - A Closed Shop with a Division of Labor 
• The Inner Ear Battery - One Group of Cells Provides Power for Another 
• Small Size Means Greater Mechanical Sensitivity 
• Hair Cells Convert Mechanical Energy to Electrical Energy 
• Synapses - Communication to and from the Brain 
• Stereocilia Bundle Organization and Mechanotransduction 
• The Organs of Hearing and Balance 
• The Organ of Corti -The Temple of Hearing 
• Inner and Outer Hair Cells 
• Outer Hair Cell Electromotility 
• The Outer Hair Cell is Pressurized 
• Active Hearing Improves Frequency Selectivity 
• Regeneration - The Problems of Reorganizing and Rewiring 
• The Central Hearing System - Where Sound Is Reconstructed 
• Recommended Resources: Books, Articles and the Internet 

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©2001-2006 Baylor College of Medicine
Bobby R. Alford Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Mail: One Baylor Plaza, NA102, Houston, TX 77030
Phone: 713-798-5906
E-mail: oto@bcm.tmc.edu

Last modified: November 19, 2005