MadSci Network: Other |
Human beings, like most vertebrate animals, have two ears, one on each side of their heads. The reason that you have two ears is that each ear picks up and processes sounds. If a sound is closer to one of your ears, it is louder. If a sound is farther away, it is softer. So, let's imagine that a car is coming toward you, from your right side. Both of your ears hear the car sound, but the car sound is louder in your right ear. Your brain will get two different sound levels of the "car sound." Then your brain will compare the sound levels from each ear. Your brain will then think... "Oh, the sound of that same car is louder in the right ear, so the car is on my right side." If the car is coming toward you, the car sound will get louder, and if the car is going away from you, then the car sound will get softer. So, your brain continues to listen to the sounds from each ear. As the car comes nearer to you, your brain thinks... "I hear the sound louder in the right ear, and the sound is getting more and more loud in the right ear... therefore, the car is on my right side, and it is coming towards me." Then, as the car passes in front of you, your brain continues to listen, and your brain thinks... "Now the sounds in both ears are the same level, so the car must be right in front of me." And, finally, your brain continues to listen as the car moves to your left and goes away from you, always comparing the sounds you are getting from your two ears. Your brain then thinks... "Oh, now I hear the car more on my left side, but the sounds are getting more soft, so the car must be moving away from me to my left." Yes, your brain will do this even if you are blindfolded, and you don't really see the car at all. For more information on this experience, you can research the words "Binaural Hearing," which means "hearing with both ears." One of the best ways to search on the Internet is to go to http://www3.metacrawler.com .
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Other.