Why are our ears shaped the way they are with all their weird ridges? Why aren’t they more simply shaped like a funnel?
In: Biology
If it were shaped like a funnel, then we would have a very narrow sound stage and barely any spatial knowledge of the sounds we hear. The funnel reverberates the sound before it reaches the bottom end of the funnel so almost all the spatial information is lost there. This would make it harder for us to survive. Here are the key factors determining the shape:
1. The outermost fold is called the pinna and has special resonance properties that reverberates the high frequency sound into the ear canal without losing the spatial information this helping us to locate high pitch noise easily.
2. The pinna is the most important fold to determine the location of the sound source. Here is a fun experiment showing why that is
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ears-do-their-design-size-and-shape-matter/
3. The ear canal enhances sounds of a different frequency range. I’m guessing it’s mostly mid to low pitch based on its hollow cylindrical shape. Correct me if I’m wrong.
4. And since sound is a mechanical vibration, the ear needs to be strong enough to resist minor pressure fluctuations. The soft bones in the ear assist with that.
Think of the outer ear as a conditioning filter which filters and conditions the incoming (Raw) sound and provides a compatible output for the the middle and inner to function properly.
I’m sure there’s more to it that I’m not aware of yet. Enlighten me.
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