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The earSound waves enter your outer ear and transport through a narrow passageway, that narrow passageway is called the ear canal, that leads to your eardrum. When an incoming sound waves enter your eardrum, your eardrum vibrates. These vibrations are sent to three tiny bones in your middle ear. These three tiny bones are called the incus, stapes, and malleus. The bones located in your middle ear increase the sound vibrations and send them to a cochlea. A cochlea is a snail-shaped structure filled with fluid, in the inner ear. An elastic membrane runs from the beginning to the end of the cochlea which splits it into a lower part and an upper part. The vibrations cause the fluid inside your cochlea to ripple, and a traveling wave is created along the membrane. Hair cells, which are sensory cells sitting on top of the membrane, "ride the wave." Just in case you thought hair cells had something to do with hair they do not. The actually get their name from bristly structures that look like hair jutting from their tops. As the hair cells move down and up, their bristly structures bump up against an overlying membrane and slightly lean to one side. This tilting action causes pore-like channels on the surface of the bristles to open up. After that happens, certain chemicals rush in, creating an electrical signal. The auditory nerve (which everyone has) carries this electrical signal to your brain, which is called "sound."
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