Human Ear and Role of Hearing in HCI:

Ear:
We have two ears. Each of our ear has the same parts.
The picture below show the parts of ear:

There are three main parts of ear.

1- Outer Ear
2- Middle Ear
3- Inner Ear

Outer Ear:
The outer ear is separated from the middle ear by a thin membrane called
eardrum.
The outer ear has a canal and this canal is linked with max and tiny hairs.
The max and tiny hairs keep dust from entering further into your ear.

Middle Ear:
The middle ear is also separated from inner ear by a membrane.
The canal leads to the middle ear.
There are three tiny bones in middle ear.

Inner Ear:
There is a coiled tube called cochlea which contains fluid.
The cochlea is attached to nerve cells.
How the Ear works?

Sound travels like waves. When sound waves enter the outer ear, they pass through the
canal and strike the eardrum. When the eardrum moves or vibrates, it moves the tiny
bone nearest to it. This bone in turn moves the second bone which in turn, moves the
third bone. The third bone touches the membrane between the middle ear and the inner
ear. When this membrane vibrates, the fluid in the cochlea moves. The nerve cells then
send the message to the brain which tells you what to hear.

What is Human Computer Interaction?

A process of information transfer
User to Machine
Machine to User
HCI is also referred to as Man Machine Interaction

What is Human according to HCI?

Information input/output
visual, auditory, haptic, movement
Information stored in memory
sensory, short-term, long-term
Information processed and applied
 reasoning, problem solving, skill, error
Emotion influences human capabilities
Each person is different

What is Sound according to HCI?

Sound used as
Warning or notification
Sound especially used while eyes are busy
Types of sound
Speech or non-speech
Speech sound can be used convey information
Non-speech sound can be used for
1) Attention
For example, end of a process
2) Confirmation
For example deleting a file
3) Status information
For example, monitoring the progress of a
process

Role of Hearing in HCI?

Provides information about environment
Distances, Directions, Objects etc.
Humans can hear frequencies from 20Hz to 15kHz
Human ear can distinguishing frequency changes at low frequency, but is
less accurate at high frequencies
Auditory system filters sounds
Allowing people to ignore background noise and concentrate on important
information. for example, in party
People tend to underestimate the amount of information that they receive through
their ears.
People are selective to their hearing.
For example, if someone says your name
 People not able to differentiate sound, if sound are too loud or frequencies too
similar.