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Sound and the Ear 



I. Hearing 



The study of hearing is one of the oldest fields in biophysics. The 

 reception and analysis of sound by the human ear has interested men who 

 studied either physics or biology and has appealed especially to persons 

 having a background in both the physical and biological sciences. The 

 hearing mechanisms form one of the major sensory systems through 

 which animals are stimulated by their environment. Vertebrates, in 

 particular, have complicated sensory receptor systems which analyze 

 incident sound waves for tone, quality, and loudness. 



Man relies on visual information when he wants accuracy such as is 

 required in recording scientific data. However, in communicating daily 

 with the people around him, man relies principally on hearing. As a 

 result of this major role of hearing in social intercourse, persons with a 

 hearing deficiency suffer more social disapproval than do those with 

 visual deficiencies. Hearing is important not only for communicating 

 with other persons, but also for avoiding many dangers such as being 

 struck by an automobile. In addition, we learn to recognize certain 

 living creatures and many types of events by their noises, for example, 

 the cat's meow and the telephone's ring. Human emotions, too, are 



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