Hearing

Related Topics Language Vision Taste Smell
Image of hair cells
Your Ears' Digitizers
You have this tiny corkscrew to thank for every song you’ve ever heard.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Your selections: Hearing
Roundup: Senses and Perception
How much do you know about how your senses work?
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Hearing Red, Tasting Blue: When the Senses Mix
Learn about the neuroscience behind synesthesia in this video which won first place in the 2016 Brain Awareness Video Contest.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
  • 5 min
Signaling Across Brain Regions
Even something as simple as speaking requires the interplay of different brain areas.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
The More You Hear, The Less you Hear
Specialized cells in the inner ear turn vibrations in the air into what we perceive as sound. However, over time or after prolonged exposure to loud noises, these cells can become damaged and die, leading to hearing loss.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Listening with Light:  Deaf Can Hear Using Lasers
Cochlear implants have restored hearing to thousands of deaf people, but what about when deafness is caused by a damaged cochlea or nonfunctional auditory nerve? A possible solution is to bypass the cochlea and stimulate the brain directly.
Sensing Sound
The cochlea is the place where sound waves are converted to beautiful music.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Good Vibrations
Special cells in the inner ear turn vibrations in the air into what we perceive as sound.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Constructing Sound: Auditory Brainstem Implants
New technologies are giving children who are deaf a chance to hear.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
  • 10 min
Can Hearing Loss Predict — or Lead to — Cognitive Decline?
Possible links between impaired hearing and loss of cognitive abilities raise the tantalizing possibility that restoring hearing could slow cognitive decline.
  • The Dana Foundation
Charles Limb: Your Brain on Improv
Musician and researcher Charles Limb wondered how the brain works during musical improvisation — so he put jazz musicians and rappers in an fMRI to find out. 
  • TED
  • 16 min
Closing the Gap Between Cochlear Implants and Natural Hearing
The cochlear implant is a near-miraculous device, widely considered the most effective brain-machine interface technology yet developed. Now, researchers are working to make this very good implant even better.
  • The Dana Foundation
How Musical Training Affects Older Adults' Speech Perception in a Noisy Environment
Playing a musical instrument can do wonders for our brains. But how does it affect our hearing later on in life?
  • National Science Foundation

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