How Do Sound Waves Affect Human Hearing

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Sound Waves, Frequencies, and Human Hearing
By: Hanan Sabovic

Sound is made up of vibrations, or sound waves, that we can hear. These sound waves are formed by objects vibrating. Sound waves travel through air, water, and solid objects as vibrations. When they reach our ears, these waves make the skin of our eardrums vibrate. The brain recognizes these vibrations as sounds made by different things. Scientists have been making amazing discoveries about sound for many years. For example, vibrations made a deaf man hear the music he was playing on his piano. Frequencies can find where mental problems and emotional conflicts are hidden in the body. Your age can affect what types of frequencies you hear. Sound is just another part of our daily …show more content…

Dogs can hear sound at a higher frequency than humans, allowing them to hear noises that we can’t. Animals like dogs actually can have 10 times better hearing than us. A deaf man named Beethoven used vibrations to hear his music playing on his piano by taking a metal rod and attaching it to his piano. He then clenched the rod in between his teeth. The vibrations traveled from his piano to his jawbone. Beethoven heard his music through vibrations. (Heather, Simon(2013) “The Science of Sound) Intensity is the amount of energy of a vibration, and is measured in decibels (dB). A zero decibel sound, like leaves rustling in the wind, can barely be heard by an adult. However, a 120 dB sound, like a jet engine, is noticed as very loud and painful for the human ear. The higher the number is, for instance 200 dB, the more painful the sound will be to …show more content…

Some frequencies that you hear will make you have difficulties doing basic everyday things. You may have difficulties concentrating and you might lose your focus. You may have difficulties remembering certain things and have short-term memory loss. You might lose your confidence and not stand up to challenges. Ear dysfunctions are also serious things that affect your body. The ear is an important part of your body. Side effects of ear dysfunctions can make the simplest tasks difficult. You can have sitting difficulties, standing difficulties, walking difficulties, poor coordination and speech impediments.(Urban, Tim (March 09, 2016) “Wait But Why?”) These side effects can seriously affect you.

Vibrations can affect your physical coordination. Alfred A. Tomatis found that low-frequency sounds (125 Hz - 750 Hz) affect our physical coordination. For example, a drum beat will make us want to dance. Middle frequency sounds (750 Hz - 3,000 Hz) tend to stimulate the heart, lungs, and your emotions. Tomitas believed that high-frequency sounds (3,000 Hz and above) will literally ‘charge up’ the brain and affect basic functions such as thinking, memory and spatial perception. High frequency sounds can actually stimulate bone conduction, too.( Urban, Tim (March 09, 2016) “Wait But

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