The inner ear is made up of two main parts: Balance and Cochlea.

As phoneticians, we’re interested

in cochlea.

The cochlea is tube like a snail shell it is located inside the inner ear. So far, the traveling of vibration
through outer and middle has been covered, now, we will discuss how these vibrations travel
through the cochlea.

The cochlea tube is divided into three main parts ( scala media( cochlear duct) , scala vestibuli and
scala tympani.

As we said before we are interested in cochlea but the main interest will be the scala media or
cochlear duct.

When the eardrum vibrate, this vibration is transferred and amplified by ossicles then this vibration
hits the oval window; as the vibration enters through the oval window, it has one way .i.e. it enters
through oval window and travels through scala vestibuli and it moves up around the helicotrema
and it moves down the scala tympani until it reaches the round window through which it will be
released ( the round window expand and contract as the waves impact it acting as a pressure release
valve) but before these pressure waves are released something happen

The basilar membrane (The basilar membrane is a stiff structural element within the cochlea of
the inner ear which separates two liquid-filled tubes that run along the coil of the
cochlea, the scala media and the scala tympani.) is Thin in same place and thick in
other place. If I apply the same level of pressure this basilar membrane will deform in some
places not all of them depending on the frequency of pressure. If i apply a pressure of 400
Hertz (low frequency) only the thick part will deform for the thin part it will need high
frequency ( 18.000---20.000 hertz) to deform the thinnest part need a high frequency to
be deformed.
When the thinnest part move or deform = high frequency
When the thickest part move or deform= low frequency.
So if apply the same level of pressure, one part will move whereas the other part will not
move.

The vibration of the oval window causes complex pressure waves to move up through the
lymphatic fluid in cochlea. These pressure waves move up the scala vestibuli around the
helicotrema and down the scala tympani. After that turn, the pressure waves reaches the
round window and they are released through that window( as pressure waves move through
cochlea, they deform or change the shape of the cover of the basilar membrane and this
deformation is what results in hearing. As i said before if the thinnest part is the one that
deforms this means the received frequency is high. If the thickest part is the one that
deforms this means the frequency is low. Somehow, these frequencies are sent through
nerves to the brain which interprets these frequencies and transfer them into linguistic
meaningful messages.
More explanation: the basilar membrane has different nerves connecting to. We said that the
cover of the basilar membrane can be classified into two main parts.. the first part which is
thick it respond to low frequency.. the second part which is thin it respond to high frequency
the middle part respond to frequencies in between. So each of these part has a specific
nerve or path connected to. So if the frequency is high, the thin part will deform and this
signal of high frequency will be sent through the nerve or path of high frequencies to the
brain. The same thing for low frequency.. if it us low, the thick part will deform and the signal
of low frequency will be sent through the nerve or path of low frequency to the brain. As the
brain has already received many high and low frequencies it will related the new frequency
that is sent through one of the nerves and relate to a specific sound that us already heard
and that how the brain interpret sounds. In brief the nerves or paths tell the brain if the
frequency is high or low and since the brain is already familiar with such frequencies it will
easily relate them to a specific sound.

So far, we have viewed that the brain recognize the sound through the frequency. So the
answer to the question about the ability of the ability of the brain to distinguish different
sounds ... is clear.

A very important point: we said that after the turn the pressure waves take through the
cochlear, they are released through round window. If these pressure is released time after
time, won’t the middle ear be full of pressure ?? Sure it will be full of pressure and here we
will have another problem of balance of pressure on both sides ( outer and middle) if the
pressure is not equal we will not hear things clearly. So how can we get rid of that pressure
in order to equalize the pressure on both sides? I am sure that you remember the
Eustachian tube ! It will be the tube that release the pressure coming out from the round
window to equalize the pressure in order to successfully receive the next sound.

Sound waves causes eardrum to vibrate. This vibration us amplified by ossicles. The stapes impose
pressure on oval window and creates pressure waves inside the cochlea which travel through that
later and after that they are released by round window ( while pressure waves travel through
cochlea they deform the basilar membrane and this deformation can take place in one of the two
main parts depending on the frequency of the pressure waves. The range of frequencies will be sent
through nerves or paths which are connected to the basilar membrane and sent to the brain which
will interpret them as sounds or meaningful messages.