How the Ear Works

    The outer ear funnels sounds into the middle ear where it vibrates the eardrum. The eardrum vibrates the hammer, which moves the anvil, which moves the stirrup. The stirrup moves up and down on the oval window, which vibrates the fluid inside the cochlea. Hairs inside the cochlea move in the fluid, and nerves at the base of the hairs transmit the movement of the hairs through the Cochlear Nerve to the brain which decodes the information as sound.