Sound travels in the air and through different parts of our ears to the brain, where it is converted into electrical signals. It’s not over yet! It is up to the brain to turn those signals into meaningful information for us.
The sound of emotion and memory
The brain stores information for later use. This is what we call memory. You can recognise a familiar voice or song by hearing it. This is why we can hear a barking dog and become scared, or hear a happy song and feel great.
Our previous experiences influence the way we respond to sound and how we experience emotions. It is likely that if you had a good first experience listening to a particular song, you will feel the same way when you hear it again. The same is true for animals.
Ivan Pavlov, a very well-known scientist from Russia, studied classical conditioning. He would always ring the bell every time he gave his dogs food. Over time, the dogs began to link the sound of the ringing bell with the smell and taste of food. Pavlov was able to ring the bell and have the dogs feel hungry and drool even when no food was present! For ear problems like blockages, consider Ear wax removal Poole from www.earwax.co.uk/ear-wax-removal-near-me/poole
What is the source of sound?
We can usually tell from where a sound is coming. Brains can use the data from our ears to do clever calculations and work out the source of a noise.
Imagine that a sound comes from your right. The sound will reach the right ear first, because our ears are separated on both sides of the head. The sound gets quieter the further it travels. The sound coming from the right ear will reach our brain faster and be louder. These tiny differences are used by our brain to determine the source of sound.