from the Office of Publications and Information Dissemination

INTRODUCTION
Imagine it's morning. You are just beginning to wake up. You're wondering how late it is and if you can stay in bed just a few more minutes ... or if it's time for you to get up and get ready for school. You hear the shower running, so someone's already in the bathroom. The dog is scratching on the back screen door to be let in the house. Someone's opening the front door to get the newspaper, and your clock radio just came on. Upstairs your sister is running her hair dryer. All these familiar morning sounds tell you it's time to get up!
Now imagine that you're walking to school. Your best friend yells to you, "Hey, wait for me!" The safety patrol raises her hand and says, "Don't cross the street yet. " Suddenly you hear your friend yelling and honking his bike horn signaling you to move aside. But the garbage pickup truck is rumbling slowly down the street and you can't cross to the other side just yet. The crossing guard blows her whistle and beckons. Now you can hurry on to school.

My Morning Sound Map

These many words and sounds signaling warnings, friendship, and daily routine are a natural part of the day for people who hear.
Can you think of all the sounds you heard from the time you woke up until you reached school today? Create a sound map of your early morning activities. Tomorrow, borrow a cassette recorder to tape all the sounds you hear in one hour's time. Discuss in your class how certain sounds have meaning for you.

HOW WE HEAR
Sounds surround us everyday. We pay attention to some of them-the alarm clock, mother or father's call to breakfast, the ringing of the telephone, music on the radio, a whispered secret, the bell on the ice cream truck, friends talking at recess, the teacher's words in class, an ambulance siren! Other sounds we may choose to Ignore- a neighbor's baby crying across the street, a squirrel running across the roof, birds chirping in the early morning, the scratching of pencils on paper, or cars passing down the street.
Our ears and our brain work together to allow us to hear sound . We choose to pay attention to some sounds, and we ignore others.

THE PARTS OF THE EAR
Many people think our ears are the parts we see attached on the outside of our head. Would you be surprised to learn that the ear actually has three main parts? They are:

• the outer ear
• the middle ear
• the inner ear

The outer ear is shaped like a funnel. The part you can see is called the pinna (pin'-uh). Inside the outer ear is the ear canal, a tunnel which ends at a round membrane called the eardrum. The eardrum separates the outer ear from the middle ear.
The middle ear is a small air-filled space containing the Eustachian tube and a bridge of three bones. The Eustachian tube connects your ear and your throat and helps to keep a supply of fresh air in the middle ear. The three bones, called ossicles (ah'-sikuls), are the smallest in your body, and each has a name:

• malleus (mal'-ee-us) or hammer;
• incus (in-kus) or anvil;
• stapes (stay-peez) or stirrup.

This illustration shows the important parts of the inner ear in cross section. You can see only a few hair cells here. Imagine this membrane and the hair cells as a continuous ribbon through the entire cochlea. The shaded areas represent the special cochlear fluids.

Copyright © 2002 Gallaudet University Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center
800 Florida Ave. NE
Washington, DC 20002
File 535/535-1--last revised 06/1998
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