BU 323 - BUILDING UTILITIES 3: Acoustics and Lighting Systems

SCHOOL : Pangasinan State University, Urdaneta City Campus

INSTRUCTOR : Architect ALDWIN M. CASTILLO

HUMAN HEARING SYSTEM

Your ears and brain is the most important part of any sound system.

We often think and talk about audio gear: digital to analog converters, amplifiers, speakers,
headphones, etc. But sometimes we forget about the most important audio gear out there, the gear we
were born with, our ears & brain. This is where it all goes to, the final stop in our “audio system”.

Through our ears and brain, sound offers us a powerful means of communication. Though human
communication is multisensory, involving visual and tactile input besides the sound, our sense of
hearing is helping us experience the world around through sound as well.

While comparing vision and hearing, vision is the sensory input that acquires the most data and requires
the most brain processing power. While dealing with the environment, even if we use our hearing, we
rely mostly on our vision. Therefore, vision being the most trained / used sensory input we have, it’s
easier to compare images and even remember images than to remember, or to compare sounds.
Practically if we are not musicians or work in the field of music, our audio memory may not be very good
by default.

Hearing System is formed by to major components: ears and brain. Yes, no matter the senses used, the
understanding occurs in the brain:

Did you know that there are specialized cells in the inner ear that have the responsibility of converting
the vibrational waves of sound into electrical signals that can be interpreted by the brain? This sounds
can be similar to an ADC (Analog to Digital Converter). So now what do we do for the recording –
listening music process? The first step is the recording step, which, usually these days is in digital
format. So we really have to use an ADC for that. Then if we need to play the music we have to use our
entire sound system which could mean a huge stack of gear: source – > DAC – > Amplification ->
Speakers/Headphones -> Ears . And inside the ears, the signal is again transformed into digital signals.
Wouldn’t it be nice to transfer directly as signals into the brain? This could be great for deaf people as
well.
The human ear responds to frequencies in the range of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz (20 kHz), 1although most
speech frequencies lie between 100 and 4,000 Hz. Frequencies above 20,000 Hz are referred to
as ultrasonic. Though ultrasonic frequencies are outside the range of human perception, many animals
BU 323 - BUILDING UTILITIES 3: Acoustics and Lighting Systems
SCHOOL : Pangasinan State University, Urdaneta City Campus
INSTRUCTOR : Architect ALDWIN M. CASTILLO

can hear these sounds. For instance, dogs can hear sounds at frequencies as high as 50,000 Hz, and
bats can hear sounds as high as 100,000 Hz. Other sounds, such as some produced by earthquakes
and volcanoes, have frequencies of less than 20 Hz. These sounds, referred to
as infrasonic or subsonic, are also outside the range of human hearing.

The Sound Spectrum

We may find out that lot of people tend to ignore, especially kids. Individuals are often unaware of the
damage loud noise does to their hearing. Even common noises, such as highly amplified music and
gas-engine mowers or leaf blowers, can damage human hearing with prolonged exposure.

Sporting events can also expose individuals to hazardous decibel levels as defined by the Occupational
Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). Under OSHA guidelines, the limit of continuous noise
exposure for an eight-hour a day in an industrial setting is 90 dB. OSHA also prohibits
workplace impact noise (short bursts of sound) greater than 140 dB. By increasing our awareness of
decibel levels of common environmental noises, we can better limit our exposure to hazardous noise
levels or take measures to protect our ears.

Even common noises, such as highly amplified music and gas-engine mowers or leaf blowers, can
damage human hearing with prolonged exposure.

We should also take good care of our ears when going to concerts, as while we are staying in front of
the loudspeakers, we’ll expose ourselves to about 120 dB sound pressure levels. This will begin to
damage our hearing in ~7 minutes.

The human hearing can handle a wide range of frequencies and sound pressure levels. The
weakest audible sound level is called the hearing threshold and the sound level of the loudest
sound is called the threshold of discomfort or the threshold of pain

Interesting study about the subject:

The cochlear implant, a micro electrode array that directly stimulates the auditory nerve, has greatly
benefited many individuals with profound deafness. Deaf patients without an intact auditory nerve may
be helped by the next generation of auditory prostheses: surface or penetrating auditory brainstem
implants that bypass the auditory nerve and directly stimulate auditory processing centers in the
brainstem.
BU 323 - BUILDING UTILITIES 3: Acoustics and Lighting Systems
SCHOOL : Pangasinan State University, Urdaneta City Campus
INSTRUCTOR : Architect ALDWIN M. CASTILLO

Before getting to the brain, let’s take a closer look to the ear. Many people think that they don’t require
any preventive maintenance. Sometimes we take hearing for granted and we don’t take good care of
our ears.

This is the structure of ears:

Human Ear
BU 323 - BUILDING UTILITIES 3: Acoustics and Lighting Systems
SCHOOL : Pangasinan State University, Urdaneta City Campus
INSTRUCTOR : Architect ALDWIN M. CASTILLO

A Schematic Representation of the Human Ear (Flanagan, 1972)

Drawing of the Human Ear

A – the OUTER EAR
B – the MIDDLE EAR
C – the OUTER EAR

When the sound arrives in the ear it is processed in a few different steps. These steps happen in the 3
sections: the outer ear, middle ear and inner ear. The pathway from the outer ear to the inner ear is
remarkable in its ability to precisely process sounds from the very softest to the very loudest and to
distinguish very small changes in the frequency of sound (pitch). Humans can discern a difference in
frequency of just 0.1 percent. This means that humans can tell the difference between sounds at
frequencies of 1,000 Hz and 1,001 Hz.
The outer ear is formed by the portion named auricula or pinna ( the part that we can all see ) and the
ear canal. The pinna has the role of collecting the sounds and focus them into the middle and inner
portions of the ear. It also helps in determining the direction from which a sound originates. The ear
canal’s length is about 2.5 cm and it leads to the eardrum of the middle ear. The ear canal also has
glands that secrete a wax like substance. The wax with the present hair prevents dust, insects or other
objects going deeper in the ear, while keeping a constant humidity and temperature in the middle ear.
BU 323 - BUILDING UTILITIES 3: Acoustics and Lighting Systems
SCHOOL : Pangasinan State University, Urdaneta City Campus
INSTRUCTOR : Architect ALDWIN M. CASTILLO

Individuals should not attempt to remove earwax, since this secretion will work itself out of the canal
naturally in most cases. To avoid damage, it should be removed by a medical professional. Hearing
researchers strongly concur with the truth of the adage: Put nothing smaller than your elbow into your
ear.

The ear canal acts as an amplifier for sound frequencies between 3,000 and 4,000 Hz.

The middle ear is separated by the outer ear by the eardrum which is a continuously growing structure.
This means that damage to the membrane can be generally repaired. The eardrum is elastic and this
allows it to vibrate in response to sound waves.

The elegance of the middle ear system lies in its ability to greatly amplify sound vibrations before they
enter the inner ear.
The middle ear is an air-filled space. It is connected to the back of the throat by a small tube called
the eustachian tube, which allows the air in the middle ear space to be refreshed periodically. The
eustachian tube can become blocked by infection, and fluid may fill the middle ear space. Changes in
air pressure can also affect the tympanic membrane, resulting in the ear-popping phenomenon
experienced by people who fly in airplanes or drive over mountain roads. The membrane may bend in
response to altered air pressure and then “pop” back to its original position when the eustachian tube
opens and internal and external air pressures are equalized.
The inner ear has the important sensory hearing cells: the outer hair cells and the inner hair cells. The
outer one’s act like a biological amplifier/attenuator, boosting soft sounds and dampening loud sounds.
The inner hair cells transfer sound information into the auditory nerve. The auditory nerve transfers
sound information to the various brainstem and auditory cortex regions in the brain so the information
can be processed.

This is an interesting information about the audio processing of the brain.

The brainstem receives data streams from both ears in the form of firing patterns that include
information about the incoming audio signals. First, the brainstem feeds back commands to the middle
ear muscles and the inner ear’s outer hair cells to optimise hearing in real time. Although this is a
subconscious process in the brainstem, it is assumed that the feedback is optimized through learning;
individual listeners can train the physical part of their hearing capabilities.

Schematic Diagram of the HUMAN AUDITORY SYSTEM’S Feedback Processes

BU 323 - BUILDING UTILITIES 3: Acoustics and Lighting Systems
SCHOOL : Pangasinan State University, Urdaneta City Campus
INSTRUCTOR : Architect ALDWIN M. CASTILLO

This is where the processing power of the brain kicks in.

➢ Rather than interpreting, storing and recalling each of the billions of nerve impulses transmitted by
our ears to our brain every day, dedicated parts of the brain – the brain stem and the auditory
cortex – interpret the incoming information and convert it into hearing sensations that can be
enjoyed and stored as information units with a higher abstraction than the original incoming
information: aural activity images and aural scenes.
The information streams are received by the brainstem and then sent to the auditory cortex where aural
activity images like level, pitch and localisation are created.
➢ Comparing the aural activity images with previously stored images, other sensory images (eg.
vision, smell, taste, touch, balance) and overall context, a further aggregated and compressed
aural scene is created to represent the meaning of the hearing sensation. The aural scene is
constructed using efficiency mechanisms – selecting only the relevant information in the auditory
action image, and correction mechanisms – filling in gaps and repairing distortions in the auditory
activity images.
➢ The aural scene is made available to the other processes in the brain – including thought
processes such audio quality assessment.

So the auditory cortex converts the raw audio data into aural information that helps you perceive the
sound as you do.
➢ The science of describing, measuring and classifying the creation of hearing sensations by the
human auditory cortex is the area of psycho-acoustics. In this paragraph we will very briefly
describe the four main psycho-acoustic parameters of audio characteristics perception:
1. loudness,
2. pitch,
3. timbre,
4. Localization

Psycho acoustics: main parameters of the perception of audio characteristics

CONCLUSION

The process of hearing is very complex and is formed of many steps.

Besides the ear, the brain has a lot of processing to do, processes that may not be fully understood at
the moment.
BU 323 - BUILDING UTILITIES 3: Acoustics and Lighting Systems
SCHOOL : Pangasinan State University, Urdaneta City Campus
INSTRUCTOR : Architect ALDWIN M. CASTILLO

Inaudible high-frequency sounds with a nonstationary structure may cause non-negligible effects on the
human brain when coexisting with audible low-frequency sounds. We term this phenomenon the
“hypersonic effect” and the sounds introducing this effect the “hypersonic sound.”
The hearing system is not simple at all and we don’t have all the explanations of how it works.
Here, the author said about his hearing and sound interpretation:

“So, when somebody tells me that what I hear is not possible because of some “theoretical” reasons, I
ask him if he truly knows how the sound is perceived by our hearing system. For me is like when I am
seeing a green object, somebody comes along and says that object is yellow and it is impossible to be
green because it hasn’t been proved our eyes can see the green color. If I see it green, then to me it is
green and that is that. That just means that they didn’t find the right explanation yet.”

Do not forget that our ears and brain are the most important part of our audio system. So, have your
hearing checked periodically.

The Human Ear with the Leading Causes of Hearing Loss

Sources:
o The most important part of any sound system:
your ears and brain. Hearing explained
in HeadMania: Audiophile and proud
o The Human Ear (Powerpoint Slides) by Danica Parajes
o Architectural Acoustics by Marshal Long
o Fundamentals of Acoustics and Noise Control
by Jacobsen, Poulsen, Rindel, Gade and Ohlrich