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The revolutionary discovery of "alternative hearing" made by American scientists
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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As scientists from the Laboratory of Medical Research of the Submarine Fleet in Connecticut found out, the human ear under water can hear frequencies up to 100 kHz, which goes beyond the normal auditory range. This is due to the direct excitation of the auditory ossicles with sound vibrations, without the participation of the tympanic membrane.
Usually the human ear perceives sounds with a frequency of 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Everything above is heard as an all-less noticeable squeak, like a mosquito; The sounds at the bottom border are similar to the fact that you are standing next to the bass on the R & B concert. But under certain conditions, people are able to hear and distinguish sounds outside this range.
In the usual case, a sound wave propagating in air or water reaches the tympanic membrane and causes it to oscillate. A system of three auditory ossicles is associated with the membrane: a hammer, anvil and stapes. Fluctuations of stapes excite one more element of the hearing system - a snail. This spiral shaped organ has a rather complex structure, is filled with liquid and carries the hair cells. The hairs, catching the fluid vibrations transmitted from the stapes, transform them into a nerve impulse.
But, according to one of the authors of the study, Michael Keane, this is not the only way to create an auditory nerve impulse.
Oscillations can come to the hairs of sensitive cochlear cells without swelling of the tympanic membrane. High frequencies, skipping bones of the skull, themselves "swing" the auditory ossicles. In this way, some types of whales are heard. The tympanic membrane does not keep up with the high frequencies, and in the air they are too weak to act directly on the auditory ossicles: it is known that divers can under water hear ultrahigh sounds up to hundreds of kilohertz.
As an alternative mechanism, researchers suggest the ability of some high-frequency oscillations to directly excite lymph inside the cochlea, bypassing even the auditory ossicles.
Keen and his colleagues are still shying away from answering the question, will have the discovery of "alternative hearing" any medical programs and whether it will be possible, on the basis of such a mechanism, to improve the human hearing by creating a "super ear". Now, as scientists say, they want to find out the details of such transmission of sound vibrations, in particular, to understand which of the auditory ossicles performs here the functions of the main antenna. "