Our Magical Ears!

I was in the library, trying to be concentrated on my sound lectures. There was this girl behind me listeting to loud metal music in her Ipod, two guys complaining about their bad math teacher, and many people hitting the keys on their laptop keyboards. At this very moment, I read that "Sound is the least controlable sense" in the Audio in Media book. I was exactely telling myself that there was no way I can escape from this symphony of disturbing sounds! And I just realized how hearing is an amazing phenomenon.

Sound is elemental and everywhere. We captured sound with our ears, that are divided in three parts; the outer, middle and inner ear. Having "ears" means that we have a healthy hearing as well as an ability to listen perceptively. But our nation is concidered as hard-of-hearing, and the hearing loss is a big problem, mainly due to an overstimulation from long exposure to loud sounds.

We mesure sound with decibels (dB).
0 dB = very faint
130 to 220 = deafering

We can devided listening in two main categories; Analytical listening and Critical listening. The first one is our interpretation of the nuances and the connotation of the sound and the second one is more about the evaluation of the sound itself. When we critically listen, we are constantely evaluating, analysing. It can also be with words, with a speech analysis for example. 

I can also make a clear distinction between hearing and listening. Hearing comes naturally, but listening needs practice and training.