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How do we hear sounds?

When something makes a sound, buddy, it shakes the air.

Pip’s picture for “How do we hear sounds?”

Pip’s answer

  1. When something makes a sound, buddy, it shakes the air.
  2. The shake travels through the air in invisible waves, whoosh!
  3. The waves wiggle a tiny drum inside your ear, and your brain hears it!

For grown-ups

Sounds are vibrations that travel through the air as waves of pressure. Your outer ear funnels them to the eardrum, which vibrates. Three tiny bones pass the vibration to the cochlea, where hair cells turn it into nerve signals, and the brain interprets those signals as sound.

Ask your child: Can you feel your throat buzz when you hum?

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