The definition I have is it aids in collecting sound waves and passes them onto the auditory canal. Help!!!
207046
I guess they are right... Here is a diagram of the ear... your letters dont make a not on there. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/anatomy/ear/
595244
There are a thing called hearphones.  They use them in speech thearapy.  People who work in the Theater when wanting to perfect their dialect  or singing voice use these.  What they are, are a headset with a voice back projection.  My daughter had a terrible speech defect and she used these with her teacher, then I bought them for use at home.  In a couple of months using these and practicing she really improved.
420098
Since your ears are separated from each other by a fixed distance, one ear generally receives the signal before the other one does.  Depending upon the differential between the two, your brain computes the angle from which the sound originates.  If both hear it at the same moment, it is coming from directly ahead or behind.
581695
If you dove or swam to the bottom of the deep end the water pressure may have been enough to give you that clogged sensation.  The mechanism is basically the same as with the air pressure during a flight:\n\nBehind your ear drum is an air pocket - the middle ear - that is connected to the back of the throat by the Eustachian tube. That tube will open and close again when swallowing or yawning to equalize the air pressure in the middle ear to that of the environment around you. That is why it is often recommended to chew gum or suck on hard candy during take-off and landing.  \n\nFor some people, the Eustachian tube does not function properly, and when the pressure builds up, sound can be muffled and you might hear noises (like ringing) in your ears.  If the pressure does not resolve, it can lead to a build up of fluid behind the eardrum, which restricts its movement even more.\n\nIf your eustachian tubes are not functioning properly, which can be due to upper respiratory ailments like allergies, or a cold, or sore throat; and the pressure can be quite painful.  Some people take antihistamines and/or decongestants to clear the upper respiratory system. \n\nIf the pressure builds up anyway, you could try to force some air into the middle ear by holding your breath (pinch your nose if needed) and blowing gently and steadily for a few seconds to force air pressure through the Eustachian tubes into the middle ear.  This is called a ValSalva maneuver -- be careful not to blow too hard or you could damage your ears.\n\nAs other people have noted, there could also be fluid that is not draining from your ear canal, which could breed a fungus or infection (swimmers ear).  If it persists, or if you get any itching, pain, fever, or drainage from the ear, see a doctor.
190064
Hearing is a lot more complicated than just amplifying some sound.  I've been a hearing instrument specialist for 12 years and I have never seen anyone buy any off the shelf product that has been any use as a hearing aid.  Such a device might help you hear the TV better in a quiet room but when it comes to living a normal life, eating out, meeting friends or relatives they will be little to no use.\n\nIf you have a hearing problem you need to have your hearing tested by a Hearing Instrument Specialist or an audiologist.  Make sure that the 'expert' is the one who actually does the testing.  Make sure you are offered a trial period.  Make sure you are fitted with a test aid system to hear what actual aids are like before even ordering them.  Find out about the rehab and service program.  Keep in mind that not all digital aids are the same.  I work for one specific company and we have 14 different kinds of digital aid!\n\nRemember the old expression, buy cheap buy twice.  There is not a week that goes by that I don't see a patient who has wasted some money on some cheap aids that don't work, and now they are having to buy something that works.
181455
When the sound wave reaches a very high octave....you can call it microwave.\n\nMicrowaves is used in the hospital to treat kidney stones. It breaks the stones.\n\nAbout weapons? Theres already such weapon..it is installed in a modern passenger ships for prevention against pirate attacks.\n\nWhen the cells are hit by soundwaves??? or microwaves??? it will not be disentigrated but causes some type of damage.
634174
As an Audiologist, I know what it is; but I've been out of grad. school for almost 15 years, so I can't address the other parts of your question.\n\nYou probably already know they have a website: \nhttp://www.nsslha.org/nsslha/\nThere are forums there, where you are more likely to get appropriate responses to your question.  \n\nGood luck with your studies!
68570
Same thing happened to my guy, but he's a music fanatic with the headphones...ended up going to the ER for it cuz I couldn't get it all. I got a lot too. Dr. pulled out 2x as much as what you said. He told him that some people poduce wax faster than others. But it took like a month or so to get that bad. Maybe 2 months max. It's just that those people have stickier wax than most people. Dr said not to use q-tips cuz it'd shove it in further. But to wash out canal with a bulb syringe with warm water often to reduce build up. It was rock hard too when it came out, and really dark. Ew. He was having a hell of a time hearing. I could hear his music through his headphones when he was across the room! When he was almost deaf is when I said lemme see.
601135
The frequency of sound is the number of waves emitted by the source of sound.\n\nBut we judge the frequency of sound by the number waves falling in our ear drum.\n\nIf we were standing still, we will judge the actual frequency of the sound emitted by the speaker.\n\nIf we move toward the speaker, the number of waves that are falling in our ear drum is increased; the number is increased by a factor c+v/ c where c is the speed of sound and v is the speed of us toward the speaker.\n\nThe same thing happens if we are at rest and the speaker moves toward us. \n\nSuppose we move away from the speaker with the speed of sound, then we cannot hear the sound at all. If we move with a speed less than that of sound, it implies the speed of sound is more and as we are also moving we will hear only less number of waves. Thus the frequency is decreased.  This time the factor is c-v/v. \n\nThe same thing happens if we are at rest and the speaker moves away from us.\n\nThis effect is called Doppler effect.
423731
When sound (or other waveform of similar shape, like an AC signal) travels through a medium, its intensity diminishes with distance. In idealized materials, signal amplitude is only reduced by the spreading of the wave. Natural materials, however, all produce an effect which further weakens the sound. This further weakening results from scattering and absorption. Scattering is the reflection of the sound in directions other than its original direction of propagation.  Absorption is the conversion of the sound energy to other forms of energy.  The combined effect of scattering and absorption is called attenuation.  Ultrasonic attenuation is the decay rate of the wave as it propagates through material.\n\nAttenuation of sound within a material itself is often not of intrinsic interest. However, natural properties and loading conditions can be related to attenuation. Attenuation often serves as a measurement tool that leads to the formation of theories to explain physical or chemical phenomenon that decreases the ultrasonic intensity. \n\nThe amplitude change of a decaying plane wave can be expressed as:\n\n A = A0*e^(-kz)\n\nIn this expression "A0" is the amplitude of the propagating wave at some location. The amplitude "A" is the reduced amplitude after the wave has traveled a distance "z" from that initial location. The quantity "k" is the attenuation coefficient of the wave traveling in the z-direction. The dimensions of are nepers/length, where a neper is a dimensionless quantity. The term "e" is Napier's constant which is equal to approximately 2.71828. \n\nAttenuation is generally proportional to the square of frequency. Quoted values of attenuation are often given for a single frequency, or an attenuation value averaged over many frequencies may be given. Also, the actual value of the attenuation coefficient for a given material is highly dependent on the way in which the material was manufactured. Thus, quoted values of attenuation only give a rough indication of the attenuation and should not be automatically trusted. Generally, a reliable value of attenuation can only be obtained by determining the attenuation experimentally for the particular material being used.\n\nThis is why higher-frequency signals tend to produce what is called "skin effect" ... basically, the energy isn't there for the wave to penetrate to any significant depth.
71179
Sounds like TMJ\n\nYou may not have heard of it, but you use it hundreds of times every day. It is the Temporo-Mandibular Joint (TMJ), the joint where the mandible (the lower jaw) joins the temporal bone of the skull, immediately in front of the ear on each side of your head. A small disc of cartilage separates the bones, much like in the knee joint, so that the mandible may slide easily; each time you chew you move it. But you also move it every time you talk and each time you swallow (every three minutes or so). It is, therefore, one of the most frequently used of all joints of the body and one of the most complex.\n\nYou can locate this joint by putting your finger on the triangular structure in front of your ear. Then move your finger just slightly forward and press firmly while you open your jaw all the way and shut it. The motion you feel is the TMJ. You can also feel the joint motion in your ear canal.\n\nThese maneuvers can cause considerable discomfort to a patient who is having TMJ trouble, and physicians use these maneuvers with patients for diagnosis.
602270
Symptoms\n\nYou may notice a build-up of wax by:\n\n    * having increasing difficulty hearing\n    * pain in your ear or ears\n    * hearing a noise or ringing in your ears (tinnitus)\n    * an awareness of something blocking your ears\n    * temporary deafness after swimming or having a bath or shower \n\nCauses\n\nThe skin cells lining our outer ear canals include tiny glands, similar to sweat glands, which produce wax. The point seems to be that this acts as a protective layer, which traps dust and other particles which get into the ear. The wax slowly works its way to the outside, taking the trapped dirt and dust with it.\n\nMost people's ears clear the wax, which probably comes off on our pillows and towels etc., at a rate which means that it does not build up. Some people may, at some stages in their lives produce wax at a faster rate. Other people have either one or both ear canals that is narrow, or that is at an angle which slows the natural passage of the wax. In these people the wax builds up.\n\nThe wax may eventually block off the ear canal all together. If this happens, hearing is reduced, and there is an increased likelihood that stagnation may lead to an infection building up behind the obstruction.\nDiagnosis\n\nThe doctor or nurse will look in your ears. We all produce wax, so what they are looking for is evidence of the wax actually blocking off the ear canal.\n\nDeafness can be caused by other problems in the ear, and if there is not enough wax to explain your problem, the doctor will be able to discuss other possible causes for your symptoms, eg fluid collecting on the other side of the ear drum when the tube which drains from the middle ear to the throat (the eustachian tube) has become blocked, as after a cold.\nTreatment\n\nIf you think you have ear wax blocking your ears, either buy some wax softening drops, from the pharmacy, or use a couple of drops of warmed (body temperature) olive oil into your ear two or three times a day, for a few days.\n\nAfter three or four days arrange to see someone regarding having your ears washed out. The nurse at your doctor's office will usually be able to do this for you.\n\nIf you have ear pain, a temperature, or are otherwise concerned, you should speak to or see your doctor sooner.\n\nIf you know that you have a hole in your ear drum (a perforation), you should not put drops in your ear without having first discussed it with your doctor or a competent medical advisor.\nPrevention\n\n    * Do not try to clean out your ears by using a cotton bud. (Ear Nose and Throat specialists sometimes say "You shouldn't stick anything in your ear that's any smaller than your elbow!") This may merely act like a ram rod, and could damage the ear drum.\n    * It may help to wear ear plugs if you work in a particularly dusty environment.\n    * If you keep getting ears blocked with wax, it may be worth using a couple of drops of olive oil into each ear once or twice a week.
665974
good grief - there is a lot of 'part' knowledge here...\n\nyou need to break this down and talk about the different parts of what the original question was asking.\n\nif it was 'see', the explanation would be the same as for hearing by the way. (it would be easier to explain about seeing)\n\nhere goes...\n\ninside your ear you have these little hairs (cillia) that are a certain distance apart. when a sound wave enters the ear the wavelength of this wave will stimulate hairs at both its high energy points (its troughs or peaks, you choose, not important) your brain knows the distance of the hairs and so can interprut this wave distance between two lots of hairs being stimulated. thats how you get the frequency (number of wavelengths in a second) of sound in your ear. the volume (loudness) depends on how vigourously the hairs are moved by the sound wave. (thats why you can go deaf listening to loud music - you kill those little hairs if too loud). \n\nnotice i said sound!\n\nyour question is about electromagnetic waves. radio waves and visible light (green) waves are both of the same stuff (light energy - some we can see and some we cannot). the organ for detecting this energy is the eye. inside the eye, the retina (back of the eye) has special cells called rods and cones for detecting different wavelengths (i believe this is what your engineer was on about). each of these cells has a specific chemical for detecting a certain wavelength. lets pick on one.\n\nthe red light cone has a protein inside that has a special part that can move to a slightly higher energy form (a more awkward position for the proten so it wants to get back to where it was before - think of bending a ruler... the more you bend it, the more it wants to get back to where it was... so the higher the energy it has) when red light is shone on that protein (inside the eye) it provides enough energy to move this extra part of the protein (called an apoprotein portion is anyone wants to know) to a higher energy state and this is enough to induce (make happen) a signal being sent to the brain that says 'red light detected' and we see red light.\n\na similar thing happens to green light.\n\nin physics, when we talk of waves whether in music or lihgth or nanometers, if you have something of the same wavelength then it is detected as the same.\n\nif you have something of a different wavelngth then it is detect as different ( or in the case of the eye.. or even the ear, not detected at all, unless your are green, red or blue light)\n\nbut if you have a wavelength that is say  x2 bigger, of x3 or x6 or x2000 times bigger exactly, with no extra and no bits needed.. it has to be exact. then these also will be detected.. A BIT. we call thesse harmonics. this is a word that belongs to music.\n\never notice the way a piano has all those notes (only 8 notes and yet so many keys..?) these eight notes are repeated but in higher registers/keys, but they are still the same note.... a higher harmonic. all these wavelenths are doubled or trippled or what ever.\n\nso, because there will be a harmonic of green light in the radiowave part of the spectrum... it can theoretically be detected. so you could theoretically detect green light (with the eye) and radiowaves (theoretically with the eye)... but never with the ear :-)\n\nhappy days - now lets look at information theory! why do we always lose information and yet still maintain the integroty of the message? at what point is the message lost?
653032
i personally don't have it, but my best friend does....he is applying for disability, but i don't know if it is related to that...my best advice is to use "distraction" music ((he listens to music as much as possible at a moderately low level, y'know just loud enough to be heard personally)) that seems to keep him from becoming too annoyed...other than that he recommends a doctor visit, some other afflictions cause the same symptoms
476620
It can depress them, or make them happy...it can make them hyper, or lazy. \n\nMusic can also curve a persons feelings temporarily.\n\nMusic is powerful. It gives me actual chills, always has.
647699
All the openings you mention are associated with functions besides breathing. (Although I have a hard time with the eustachian tube as a breathing mechanism.) The mouth is associated with our sense of taste and our ability to consume. The nose is associated with our sense of smell. The eustachian tube helps with our ability to hear, by keeping our ears open and functioning. All three orifices connect to each other and help each other. I wouldn't give up any of them.
162805
Hm.  I'm no doctor and most of my knowledge concerns forensic and mortuary science.  Tinnitus, ringing in the ears, can actually encompass both ring and a rythymic beating sound.  This is an entirely subjective experience. Check it out on wikipedia and see if it matches what you describe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus\n\nIt may also be Bruit, similiar to Tinnitus, which is caused by the way that blood rushes past an obstruction in a blood vessel.  This can be heard by another person using a stethoscope.\n\nIt may also be a mild hallucination.  I hate to say that though.  The only thing that really gave me cause to say that is your statement that you "feel like it means something."  Hallucinations with paranoia, which is what I would consider believing an unknown stimulus to mean something, are often not good things, not at all good.\n\nGet checked out by a doctor, it's more likely to be something like tinnitus or bruit.  And when you're there make sure you describe to him/her everything that you described to the Answers community above.