Describing Events You hear a phone ring. Describe the process that occurs in your ear that results in sound waves from the phone being translated into nerve impulses that are sent to the brain.

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Martha Dickson · Accepted Answer

In this question, our task is to describe the process how sound waves travel from the phone to our ears, and how our brain registers this sound.As soon as the phone rings, the sound it generates propagates in air through the persistent compression and decompression of air molecules as the sound waves travel.Once it reaches our ears, the sound waves will first encounter the outer region of the ear. These waves which initially traveled in air, will cause the eardrum to vibrate and preserve the properties of the sound waves.These tiny vibrations will then be transmitted from the ear drum to the middle ear. Here, the vibrations will cause the stirrup to signal the opening of the inner ear.Once in the inner ear, the vibrations will travel to the cochlea, and finally encounter the basilar membrane. This membrane acts as a gateway for the sound to be perceived by the brain. The basilar membrane operates at various natural frequencies. Thus, depending on the frequency of the sound wave, a specific part of the membrane will vibrate at the same frequency.Finally, these vibrations in the membrane sends an impulse to the brain through the nerve fibers. The brain will then perceive this impulse with a specific pitch and loudness.

Describing Events You hear a phone ring. Describe the process that occurs in your ear that results in sound waves from the phone being translated into nerve impulses that are sent to the brain.

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