What Contributions Does The External Ear Make To Hearing?

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In order for a person to hear it is essential that sound waves be able to make it from the surrounding environment to the brain. Anything that impedes this trip will create some kind of hearing loss. In the outer ear, the problem will undoubtedly be a form of conducting disorder. In other words, in order for the ear to hear, the tympanic membrane needs to be able to vibrate. Conductive disorders inhibit or flat out prevent that conduction.

Think of a guitar string or a chime. When a person strikes or plucks at it, the object shakes and produces a sound that people readily hear. However, if you place your fingers on the strings or the chimes, you inhibit them from vibrating and the sound stops. The eardrum works in exactly the same way. It vibrates based upon the sound waves in the air, as though the sound waves were plucking the eardrum. But it is only able to do this as long as something else isn’t preventing those sound waves from getting there.

Earplugs would be an example of something that would inhibit the sound waves. Large amounts of earwax operate the same way. Regular gentle cleaning is recommended ...
... to keep the pathways to the eardrum clear. But warm gentle flow of water is recommended alone. Foreign objects can either impede flow, or worse, rupture the eardrum itself. If holding the strings of a guitar down deadens the noise it is able to produce, imagine what snapped strings gives to you. Old reliable tricks such as using cotton swabs to rub out your ears are old for a reason. They caused far more harm than good. Risk of rupturing the eardrum is high as well as leaving behind a trail of old cotton to further clog the ear.

It is true that washing with trickling warm water may not get rid of all of the wax. That’s alright. The body produces wax to trap debris that may find its way down the auditory canal. The goal is not to completely eliminate wax, but rather to ensure that the sound waves have a clear path to the eardrum.

The auricles themselves should also be cared for. While losing them will not eliminate your ability to hear, it is much more difficult to direct those sounds down to the eardrums. When fewer sound waves are able to make it to the eardrum, sounds will tend to be less amplified and, as a result, will be more difficult to understand.

These are the contributions that the external ear makes to hearing as well as to hearing loss. Yet there is far more. It is important to understand not only the external ear, but also the middle ear, and the inner ear. By seeing how these structures work together, you can get a clearer picture as to how hearing works.

Christine Schellin, Au.D., F-AAA Doctor of Audiology, Board Certified by the American Board of Audiology Christine received her B.S. in Speech Pathology/Audiology from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1999, an M.A. in Audiology from Western Washington University in 2001, and an Au.D. from Salus University in 2008. Outside of work, Christine enjoys spending time with her husband and their two children. For up-to-date hearing aid information visit her blog.