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
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
What Color is Tuesday? Exploring Synesthesia
What if the number 7 tasted like chocolate? What if Monday was purple? This is what life is like for someone with synesthesia. Learn more about this fascinating neurological trait with this video.
  • TED
  • 4 min
The Mystery of Motion Sickness
Why do we get motion sickness? Learn what this condition has to do with the brain and your senses in this video.
  • TED
Regenerating Lost Hearing
Fish, frogs, and birds are able to recover from damage to cells in the inner ear that cause permanent hearing loss in people. What makes them different?
  • BrainFacts/SfN
  • 1 min
The Senses — A Primer (Part II)
Although sensory systems share basic features of organization, each is uniquely designed to respond to a particular aspect of the world.
  • The Dana Foundation
The Senses — A Primer (Part I)
Through complex systems that begin with cells that respond to physical stimuli and send signals through a maze of brain circuits, we can know — both consciously and otherwise — what goes on around us and within our bodies.
  • The Dana Foundation

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