How you hear

• Outer ear collects sound waves, sends them through ear canal to ear drum (tympanic membrane) that starts to vibrate.

• Membrane is attached to three tiny bones- hammer (malleus), anvil (incus), stirrup (stapes) - that pass vibrations to cochlea in inner ear.

• Inner ear is filled with thin fluid that transmits pressure changes throughout the cochlea.

• Tiny hair cells inside the cochlea pick up sound vibrations from the fluid and send thousands of electrical impulses up auditory nerve to the brain.

• These electrical signals are then interpreted as sound.

Overexposure to sound cause the hair cells to become overstimulated, fatigued and stop responding to sound - leading to Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL).