3D Human Ear animation video - The ear and the mechanism of hearing - The Hearing Mechanism

The ear and the mechanism of hearing
The Outer Ear
The auricle (pinna) is the visible portion of the outer ear. It collects sound waves and channels them into the ear canal (external auditory meatus), where the sound is amplified.
The sound waves then travel toward a flexible, oval membrane at the end of the ear canal called the eardrum, or tympanic membrane. Sound waves cause the eardrum to vibrate.
The Middle Ear
The vibrations from the eardrum set the ossicles into motion. The ossicles are actually tiny bones - the smallest in the human body. The three bones are named after their shapes: the malleus (hammer), incus (anvil) and stapes (stirrup). The ossicles further amplify the sound.
The tiny stapes bone attaches to the oval window that connects the middle ear to the inner ear. The Eustachian tube, which opens into the middle ear, is responsible for equalizing the pressure between the air outside the ear and that within the middle ear.
The Inner Ear
The sound waves enter the inner ear and then into the cochlea, a snail-shaped organ. The cochlea is filled with a fluid that moves in response to the vibrations from the oval window. As the fluid moves, 25,000 nerve endings are set into motion. These nerve endings transform the vibrations into electrical impulses that then travel along the eighth cranial nerve (auditory nerve) to the brain.
The brain then interprets these signals, and this is how we hear.
The inner ear also contains the vestibular organ that is responsible for balance.