Hearing is the ability to detect and interpret sound. Ears collect and process sound waves and transmit the signals to the brain. The ear has three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. The outer ear, or auricle, focuses sound waves into the channel of the middle ear. The middle ear is a small cavity containing the eardrum. A narrow passageway called the Eustachian tube connects the middle ear to the throat and helps keep air pressure equalized both inside and outside the ear, preventing the rupture of the inner ear's membrane, called the eardrum. Three tiny little bones in the inner ear, called the malleus, incus, and stapes, help transmit the vibrations further into the ear. These bones are also known as the hammer, anvil, and stirrup, respectively, because of the objects they resemble.

The inner ear houses the most important parts of...