Eastern Carolina ENT
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All audiologists at the Audiology & Hearing Aid Center of Eastern Carolina E-N-T Head & Neck Surgery are members of:
American Speech-Language Hearing Association
American Academy of Audiology
There are three main parts of the ear:
- The outer ear includes the pinna and the ear canal.
- The middle ear includes the eardrum and the three ossicles (bones) commonly called the hammer, anvil and the stirrup suspended in an air-filled cavity.
- The inner ear or cochlea includes the nerve endings that allow us to hear and the organ of balance.
Sound is collected by the pinna and travels through the ear canal. The sound strikes the eardrum and causes it to vibrate. The vibrating eardrum causes the bones (ossicles) to vibrate and sends the sound through the middle ear to the inner ear. At this point, sound is converted to an electrical impulse and the movement causes fluid to move over tiny hair cells (or nerve endings) in the inner ear. This electrical impulse travels along the hearing nerve to the brain.
There is a very good explanation of hearing and types of hearing loss on the Sonic Innovations site--click here to view it.
Eastern Carolina ENT Head and Neck Surgery
850 Johns Hopkins Drive
Greenville, NC 27835
Phone: 252-752-5227