Anatomy of Hearing

1. Created inside the cochlea when the ear bones vibrate against it.
6. A message of energy that travels through air particles away from a vibrating source.
10. A tiny piece of matter in the air that is pushed by a vibration to form a wave.
12. The visible, funnel-shaped part of the ear that collects sound waves from the environment.
16. The bundle of nerve fibers that carries electrical impulses from the ear to the brain.
17. The thin, sensitive membrane that vibrates when hit by sound waves.
18. The long part of the neuron that allows the sound signal to travel toward the brain.
19. The smallest bone in the human body; it vibrates against the entrance of the inner ear.
20. The number of vibrations an object makes per second, determining the pitch of the sound.

2. The rapid back-and-forth motion of an object, like a guitar string, that starts a sound.
3. The snail-shaped, fluid-filled organ that contains specialized hearing receptors.
4. The deepest part of the ear where vibrations are converted into electrical signals.
5. The awareness of a sound once the signal finally reaches the brain.
7. The section of the ear containing three tiny bones that amplify vibrations.
8. The formal scientific term for the sense of hearing.
9. The central organ that receives and interprets impulses to identify what you are hearing.
11. The form of energy that the brain can interpret as a sensation of sound.
13. A specialized cell in the cochlea that converts physical motion into a nerve signal.
14. One of the three tiny bones in the middle ear that vibrates against the eardrum.
15. The middle bone of the three tiny ear bones that passes vibrations to the stirrup.