“It is He Who has created hearing, sight and hearts for you. What little thanks you show! (Surah Al-Muminun, 78)
How does the golden ratio in the structure of the ear enable perfect hearing? How can we determine the source of the sound in any case?
What is the role of the organ called cochlea in the process of hearing?
While doing research or presenting work; artists, scientists and designers base the ratios of their work on the golden ratio in the human body. When Leonardo Da Vinci and Corbusier were creating their designs, they used the model of the golden ratio that is represented in the human body. Experts studying the structure of the human body from various scientific fields, have found answers to the significant questions mentioned above regarding the structure of the ear.
Recent biological studies have shown that the golden ratio in the human body is not present in physical appearance alone. It has been revealed that the golden ratio is necessary in order to enable the human brain, neural system, sense organs, lung system and DNA to function properly.
The ear is one of the primary organs to exhibit the harmonious efficacy of the golden ratio, in the case in hearing.
One of the first places where this relation is clearly seen is how our ear functions in the process of hearing. However, before moving on to the geometric order in the ear, and in order to see the relation between the golden ratio and hearing, it is important to remember how the hearing process works.
The Perfect Harmony Required in the Hearing System In Order To Enable Hearing
There are two significant points that need attention with regards to the hearing system inside our ears – which is the subject of our article. In order to have the hearing process to take place, it is very important that sound waves in the air are “collected” and then these sound waves have to be transferred to the brain after being converted to neural stimulus.
Therefore, the harmony between the earlap collecting the sound waves in the air and the “cochlea” transferring the vibrations received by the internal ear to the brain has a very significant role in hearing. The most important fact is that research on the system of hearing has shown that both the earlap and the “cochlea” are structures shaped in accordance with the golden ratio.
How Does the Earlap Collect the Sound Waves In the Air?
The border of the adventitia around the earlap, namely “cochlea”, has an incurved shape, which is in fact an equiangular spiral curve made of Fibonacci sequence and as we all know, this particular shape of the ear is exactly the same in all human beings.
So what then is the relation of this geometric order to the function of “collecting” sound waves in the ear?
The equiangular spiral curve of the earlap functions to collect the sound waves due to the fact that the ear is created in the most perfect geometric order. In order to understand the perfect structure here, it would be enough to look at an example like changing the shape of the ear adventitia.
For instance, if we bend our ears forward with our hands, the loudness would be increased despite that the frequency would be the same.
And when we bend our ears backward with our hands, it becomes difficult for us to hear as loudness decreases.
Although there is no change in the sound frequency we receive, our hearing increases or decreases as a result of a distortion in the equiangular spiral shape of the earlap. Since there is a direct relation between our hearing capacity and the shape of our ear, it can be said that there is also a direct relation between the spiral curve that shapes the earlap geometrically in accordance with the Fibonacci sequence and the balance for hearing.
What is happening at the Time of Hearing?
Hearing starts first when the sound waves in the air are collected by the earlap.
These sound vibrations impinge on the eardrum, and the eardrum vibrates the auditory ossicles in the middle ear and thus sound vibrations are transferred into a mechanic vibration.
These mechanic vibrations vibrate the plasma in the structure existing in the middle ear, namely “cochlea”. Consequently, this plasma transforms the vibrations into neural stimulus and brain decodes this stimulus as sound.
The Role of “Cochlea” In the Miracle of Hearing
The other organ that has a significant role in hearing is the “cochlea”. There is a very complex hearing mechanism inside the cochlea. This bony organ that is responsible for transforming sound vibrations into neural stimulus, has very special channels full of plasma and has a constant angled spiral with 73 degrees 43 minute angle. The source of this unique anatomic shape, such as the cochlea, is the golden ratio. There is a relation between the spiral shape of the cochlea and its function. The golden ratio always forms a balance between “function” and the “anatomic shape.” that the fact that the golden ratio is always presentin similar harmonic systems elsewheretells us that it is a miraculous sequence created by Our Lord.
It has been announced in the Holy Quran; “… (such is) the artistry of Allah, Who disposes of all things in perfect order…) (Surah An-Naml, 88)
How Are We Capable of Determining the Source of the Sound?
This question has been answered by the scientific studies in the late 20th century. In 1967, D. W. Batteau showed us that the earlap has a function in determining the source of sound. This role has been explained in the following way:
“The ear, with its antenna like receiver systems on the earlap, determines the direction of the sound that it receives and sends it to the eardrum through the external ear.” (Batteau DW 1967 The role of the pinna in human localization. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1967 Aug 15;168 (11):158-80)
“There have been researches confirming this thesis upon people who have a congenital distortion in their ears or who have a malformation later on. And it has been ascertained that these people experienced problems in determining the source of sound.” (Snow, Jr. James B, “The eEar” In Ballenger JJ, Snow JB Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, 15 th edition, syf 879 Williams Wilkins Press 1996)