Lesson 6 of 7
Hearing
Goal: Describe how the ear detects sound and what we can hear.
Sound waves make your ear drum vibrate. Your ear turns the vibrations into electrical signals for your brain.
- The ear drum is the detector. It vibrates when sound waves reach it, like the thin sheet inside a microphone.
- Very loud sounds can damage your ears. People who work with noisy machines wear ear defenders.
- Some animals can turn their outer ears to point at a sound. It helps them to find where a predator is.
- Your hearing range is from about 20 Hz to 20 000 Hz. Other animals have different ranges.
Your turn
Check yourself
Knowledge organiser
This lesson on one page. Tap it to make it bigger.
Key words in this lesson
Wave A vibration that carries energy from place to place, but not matter
Vibration A back and forth movement that repeats
Ear drum A thin skin in the ear that vibrates when sound reaches it
Hearing range The lowest and highest frequencies an animal can hear
Microphone Turns a sound wave into an electrical signal