How do we hear sounds?

A bell shakes and makes sound. We hear because ears catch the sound. The sound goes inside. Your head knows: ding!

Sounds start when something wiggles or shakes. That shaking pushes the air in tiny waves. Your ears catch the waves, like your hands catching a soft ball. Inside your ear, a little part shakes too. Then a message goes to your brain, and you know what you heard: a voice, music, or a bark.

Sound begins when something vibrates, which means it moves back and forth very fast. Those vibrations travel through the air as sound waves. Your outer ear collects the waves and sends them to the eardrum, a thin piece that shakes. Tiny bones pass the shaking to the cochlea, a curled part filled with liquid and tiny hairs. The hairs send signals along the auditory nerve to your brain, which understands the sound. Fun fact: the three tiny ear bones are the smallest bones in your body.