An example would be if you’re listening to a video, you can’t understand it while trying to understand a conversation with a friend. Are we like a computer with just one core?
In: Biology
If two people are talking, your brain does not receive two different sounds.
Sound is a pressure wave in the air (or some other substance). All sounds in the air mix together to form a collection of waves. Your ear has hairs that react to different frequencies of the pressure waves and your brain gets a signal from each activated hair.
So if two people are talking your brain gets a ton of sound signals, some from each person talking. The frequencies overlap. Your brain has to figure out which sounds come from each speaker (plus filtering out other sounds).
Your brain is amazingly good at this, but it is very difficult to do as more sounds are added.
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