Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Human Ears Make Noise

Posted by timothy on from the buzz-more-when-nibbled dept.

KeelSpawn points to this article at Discover, which begins: "Until recently, scientists thought human ears were passive devices that detected and processed sounds, but new findings suggest that ears are like perpetually turned on stereo receivers that quiver spontaneously and sing along with incoming sounds."

1 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. Olds, not news by Red_Winestain · · Score: 5, Informative
    This is not new, it is old. The sounds produced by the ear are known as otoacoustic emissions. It is hard to tell from the lightweight Discover article what the new contribution from the researchers is, but the basic phenomenon is quite old and quite well understood.

    The best summary information on the web is the otoacoustic emissions web site. It has two lengthy reference sections, information on the use of otocacoustic emissions to test the hearing of new borns and infants, and lots more.

    Other information on this is easily obtainable by browsing back issues of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.