ABSTRACT
The outer ear consists of the pinna, the auditory canal, and the eardrum. The pinna is important for directional perception in determining whether a sound is coming from the front or the rear. The ability of the hearing to localize a sound source in a closed space is affected by the reflections in the space. The direction of a sound is also significant to its loudness. A frequency dependency occurs again. This can be of significance in the assessment of acoustic images in a loudspeaker arrangement for the reproduction of surround sound. A person with tinnitus will always hear a sound that can be perceived as a ringing, hissing, screeching, or roaring. The position of this maximum is of significance to the ear’s ability to determine the frequency of the sound since the nerve fibers of the organ of Corti also function as selective filters with a certain bandwidth.
