Our ears are one of the five ways we interact with the world, shaping our sensory understanding of our surroundings and affording us many pleasures, from music to conversation.
But the chances are, there are many facts about our ears that you may not be aware of. For instance, did you know our ears also partially contribute to our sense of taste? See how well your aural awareness holds up by checking out these five facts about ears.
Eww. hairy
Ears aren’t the prettiest sensory organ, and, like the nose, it turns out they’re even less so on the inside. But did you know our ears contain around 15,000 tiny hairs responsible for absorbing sound?
Restless rest
Our ears don’t magically turn off when we go to sleep, rather, our brain learns to ignore the sounds to let us sleep peacefully. We’ll leave the psychoanalysis to the experts on whether or not the sounds affect your dreams.
Spirit level
Our ears actually play a large role in our sense of balance – a pseudo-sense. Canals in our ears have hair-like sensors and fluids that help us maintain our balance.
Extrasensory
Ears, outside of hearing, don’t just affect our sense of balance. They also contribute to our sense of taste, thanks to the overlap of the chorda tympani nerve and the facial nerve – the taste nerve and the nerve for moving our face muscles, respectively. These pass through the middle ear in order to carry messages to our brain, meaning ear infections could actually pose a risk to two major senses. If you feel at risk, book a hearing test Cheltenham online, with a specialist such as https://www.imperialhearing.com/audiologist-near-me/cheltenham/.
A brand new you
You may have heard of our bodies gradually replacing every cell over the course of seven years – this in itself isn’t entirely true when accounting for nerves or other more complex cells, but serves our point well.
Our ear canals manage to replace themselves every 12 months, shedding old skin once it’s grown too much, keeping your ears in good shape.