Introduction

For humans, speech, music and other environmental sounds form the basic elements of language, social relations and adaptive response to environmental stimuli. In order to hear a sound, the auditory system converts changes in air pressure in the environment into neural activity that permits our brain to perceive and attach meaning to the sounds that we hear.

The human ear can be divided into three fairly distinct components according to both anatomical position and function: the outer ear, which is responsible for gathering sound energy and funnelling it to the eardrum; the middle ear which acts as a mechanical transformer; and the inner ear where the auditory receptors (hair cells) are located transduces mechanical energy into neural activity.

Although humans are highly visual creatures, much human communication is mediated by the auditory system; indeed, loss of hearing can be more socially debilitating than blindness.

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