Hearing involves mechanical vibrations from the environment – speech music and everyday noise. Traveling though the outer earth, the vibrations are transfered to electrical signals which travel to the brain.

The outer ear is in a funnel like group of curves of the outer ear that comprises the exterior “flap” of the pinna, an auditory canal. The auditory canal is where sound waves continue along 2.5 cm long auditory canal which extends from the conch, the (inner curve) of the outer ear to the eardrum and is lined with tiny hairs that protect it from entry of foreign objects.

The eardrum or tympanic membrane vibrates as sound waves enter the auditory canal. It is a thin layer of fibrous tissue that forms a barrier between the outer and the middle ear.

Pathway of sound in the ear as an example of an exquisitely designed instrument for the capture of sound sources reaching the inner ear,  are transferred into electrical impulses that shoot along the cochlear nerve to the brain stem. Here they follow complex pathways up to the thalamus before arriving at the auditory cortex, area 22, 41, 38, 42.

The Ossicles vibrations are passed on to a tiny set of bones called Ossicles which act as a chain of levers. The staples push and pull on the oval window at the entrance to the cochlea transmitting sound to the inner ear.

The Cochlea contains three fluid filled ducts. The vestibular canal transmits sound vibrations (blue) to the basilliar membrane of the organ of Corti Residual vibrations (red) back along the tympanic canal to the round window.

Hair cells turn sound vibrations into electrical signals that stimulated neurons in a healthy ear. Damage to the hair cells can lead to loss of hearing. However, research shows that infrared light is, also capable of stimulating ear neurons. A team at North Western University in Chicago exposed inner ear neurons in guinea pigs to infrared light. This resulted in electrical activity in the inferior collicular suggesting that the light had caused sound like input to be sent to the brain. This discovery could be turned into a new type of cochlear implant of fiberoptic targeting light to the inner ear when developed.

Hair Cells; Each hair cell is topped by about 100 projections called cilia. It is the movement of these in response to vibrations that generate electrical signals.

The Organ of Corti are mechanical vibrations of sound that are the transformed into electrical signals by hair cells in the Organ of Corti which is the main organ.

The Thalamus;

Nerve Impulses are received and processed by specialized neurons in the medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus. These signals are then sent to the primary auditory cortex which also feeds information back to the thalamus.

The Primary Auditory Cortex;

The characteristics of a sound input are finally interpreted after inter mediate processing of the Primary Auditory Cortex which works with other Cortical areas on sound Perception.

The Cochlea nerve sound impulses are transported from each hair cell in the Organ of Cortex via Cochlea endings that join together to form the nerve responsible for transmitting signals to the specialized group of neurons in the brain stem. Cochlea Nuclei, and the Cochlea nerve branches that connect to the two Cochlear nuclear on the same side of the brain as the ear,  where the sound originally entered onto this neural pathway,  branches and ascends in ways that are not fully understood.

The Inferior Colliculous; All the ascending auditory pathways some of which bypass the Superior Olives which converge upon the inferior colliculi at the top of the brain-stem and their input is then passed on toward the Thalamus.

How the brain hears…a sound begins as a wave of vibrations that is picked up by the trumpet – shaped outer ear.  Vibrations travel through the middle ear before being converted into electrical signals by the origin of Corti. They are thought to be several nerve pathways that sound impulse takes through the brain stem to react to the Thalamus and Primary Auditory Cortex for Processing into the conscience perception of sound.

Hair cells in the Schwaan cell like cells in these organoids had the protein needed for Covid 19 infection. The virus was able to infect the hair cell like cells in the organoids. Together these results point to Covid infection of the inner ear as a cause of Covid 19 that is associated with hearing and balance issues.

Research shows that Covid 19 can can damage inner ear as well as the Auditory Pathway hearing loss and it may be the only symptom of Covid 19 or be a late complication of the disease due to post infections inflammation of nerve tissue as a symptom of long haul Covid 19 results. The symptoms are dizziness & hearing loss from mild to total loss, and from mild to “total Loss of hearing” and severe bouts of Vertigo. The sensations of your environment is moving symptoms that can range from mild to severe and continue on a continuum getting worse and worse by spreading. Research suggests the ear is another part of the body deeply effected by Covid along with the Skin Organ and the white and grey matter that travels the Spinalthalamic tract by spreading. Also the mouth and tongue cells that are infected by Covid, plus many spike proteins that attached themselves to cell proteins and spread throughout our body, and presented in different forms, destabilizing the proteins, hence killing cells. So far the research is still trying to come up with something that will work all around with everyone.

Written by Carolyn d Hogarth

What if I had not spoke and only thought of myself?