Hearing hairs

[robert551069]

I have a friend who is a director of a hearing aid company abroad and thought Answerbankers might like to know of an interesting fact about hearing. |n the human ear there are many little hairs of different lengths, with each hair picking up a sound of a certain frequency.

[Old_Geezer]

I think my high frequency hairs are suffering from hair pattern baldness.

[weecalf]

Aye I hair you looking at me

[Dodger666]

Does that mean someone suffering from Alopecia Universalis(total baldness) is completely deaf?

[deggers316]

i though that was common knowledge

[douglas9401]

Sorry, you'll have to speak up, I'm a bit Yul Brynner.

[Meg888]

I have a profound hearing problem (wear 2 behind the ear HA's). My type of deafness was explained to me like this: Imagine a lawn, with millions of blades of grass to carry the sound across, but mine has big patches in it - so it falls down in the middle!

[Dodger666]

You need a regular visit from "Green Thumb" Meg.

They can do wonders for a poor lawn.

[grasscarp]

I used to teach a subject which included this information. Apparently Noise Induced Hearing Loss, which you get from constant loud noises such as a drill or disco etc, causes these hairs to get flattened. This type of hearing loss is irreversible.

[Meg888]

Well, about two years ago it was in the papers that scientists had discovered how to 're-grow' them & transplant them. But it won't be available on NHS until 2020, by which time I'll be 50 - probably too old to qualify, despite having this since I was very young. But, I suppose it's carved me who I am!

[heathfield]

Another interesting fact for those people who have a forest of hair growing out of their ears, is that each of those hairs is absorbing energy from sound waves reaching your ears. If your ears look like they're stuffed full of cotton wool, try using one of those much derided nose and ear hair trimmers. You'll find that apparent sound levels have suddenly gone up by several dB, and you may not be going deaf after all !!

[Anngel123]

I always understood that is why you don't put cotten buds in your ears.

[douglas9401]

Well now, maybe it's not ONLY wax that's dulling my hearing after all. Maybe speak to our local health professionals soon.

[shooty]

''Sorry, you'll have to speak up, I'm a bit Yul Brynner''
and i thought it was mutton jeff. lol : )

[shooty]

still laughing : )

[shooty]

you should be on stage douglas. FAF : )

[percypineapple]

o.k. mutton I understand, but yul brynner?? what does that rhyme with?? speak up, bit yul brynner, I think??

[boxtops]

The skin in the ear canal keeps on renewing, and does it in a rotating pattern in an attempt to shift wax and debris from near the eardrum. I found that really clever.

[theprof]

Eh? Sorry robert551069 but it's only right that I inform you that you've been misled. The hairs you refer to are structurally and anatomically nothing like hairs as you know it.

I have no doubt that your friend is very knowledgeable regarding hearing aids etc, but it's not right to think of the hairs in the Organ of Corti in terms of the hairs on the rest of your body. In fact, even within the Organ of Corti, there are different types of auditory receptor cells.

I'd suggest your friend confines himself to the marketing of hearing aids rather than provide misleading information on the mechanics of hearing.

[askyourgran]

I have nerve deafness robert I think those little hairs have flattened in my ears and sound doesn't get through the same way, at least that is how I understand it. I don't have a hearing aid (yet) but as I get older it is progressively worst. I've been like this since childhood.

[douglas9401]

percypineapple, it's not a rhyming thing, I just thought I must have baldy lugs and I'm of an age where total baldness = Yul B.