By Simone Syndercombe, age 13, Newminster Middle School
I am as deaf as a post; don’t you see,
That’s why hearing is of interest to me.
Pin back your pinna and I will begin,
To tell you how sounds gets from out to within.
When my mum shouts with intention to berate,
Her speech makes the air from her mouth oscillate.
Hitting the pinna the shape does enhance,
The sound which is high pitched, to further advance.
Down through my ear canal, hitting the drum,
The sound is transferred into mechanical vibra-tion!
The eardrum is attached to a bony chain of three,
The malleus, the incus and the stapes, of me.
They act like a lever, enhancing the sound big,
Transferring the signal from middle to inner ear rig.
Through the oval window, the stapes does conduct,
Sound to the snail-shaped cochlear duct.
In this fluid-filled spiral are sensory cell hairs,
Attached to the basilar membrane, which cares,
Whether amplification or attenuation is desired,
Dampening or boosting before the auditory nerve fired,
Transferring the message to brainstem from ear,
The auditory nerve ensures that we can all hear.
I am bionic; I have aids in both ears,
As I have great difficulty hearing my peers.
Remember the mechanisms this poem’s about.
For I’m not ignoring you, you just need to shout!
Hearing is fascinating, I hope you’ll agree.
And that is why hearing is interesting to me.
