How Do Our Ears Make Sense of Sound?
Albert James Hudspeth, co-winner of the 2018 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience, discusses his work in science of the human brain
This video was produced with support from the Kavli Prize by Scientific American Custom Media, a division separate from the magazine's board of editors.
Our ears contain incredible machines to help us make sense of sound waves. Albert James Hudspeth, together with Robert Fettiplace and Christine Petit, won the 2018 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience for discovering the mechanisms by which cells in our ears translate the mechanical force of changing air pressure into an electrochemical message the brain will interpret as sound. These cells even have active systems that let them tune, boost, and protect our hearing.
To learn more about brilliant work of Kavli Prize Laureates, visit The Kavli Prize. To explore more of the biggest questions in science, click here.
This article is part of a special report, “The Biggest Questions in Science,” sponsored by The Kavli Prize. It was produced independently by Scientific American and Nature editors, who have sole responsibility for all the editorial content.
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