A person experiences a sudden, muffled hearing sensation in one ear after cleaning it with a cotton swab. An examination reveals that a piece of the cotton has become lodged deep inside the tube that connects the visible part of the ear to the eardrum, completely obstructing it. What is the most direct cause of this person's hearing difficulty?

An individual develops a complete blockage in their ear canal due to excessive earwax. Which of the following describes the most direct impact this would have on their hearing?

The second part of the external ear. The ear canal directs sound from the pinnae into the middle ear area.

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The outer ear is the most external section of the auditory system, which includes the visible pinna, the auditory canal that channels sound inward, and the tympanic membrane (eardrum) at its end.

Outer Ear

Breedlove, S. & Watson, N. (2017). Behavioral neuroscience, eighth edition. Oxford University Press.

Behavioral Neuroscience 8th Edition

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

The flesh that gives the visual appearence of the ear. Pinna is Latin for wing, talking about the shape of the ear. The pinnae channels sound waves into the ear canal.

Ears are distinct to mammals. On non-human mammals, the pinnae is able to change it's shape and direction to determine location of sound. The proprioceptors within the pinnae provide information to the auditory system to localize sound sources. 

Pinnae

Ear canal

The eardrum vibrates when sound waves are funneled into the auditory canal. These vibrations are subsequently transferred to the ossicles to continue the hearing process.

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