Let’s Learn Some New Facts About the 5 Senses!

The five senses - hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, and smelling - help you, and other living animals, navigate through daily life. They not only help you enjoy the pleasures of life but also alert you of potential dangers that you may encounter.   

The Sense of Hearing

The sense of hearing is the result of a reaction to mechanical stimuli, where vibrations from sounds are translated into nerve impulses that are received by the brain.  

Facts:

• A healthy human ear can hear sounds that reach up to 20 kilohertz (kHz). A kilohertz is a unit of frequency with a measurement that equals one thousand cycles per second. Hertz is the measurement of cycles per second and kilo amounts to one thousand. So 20 kHz is 20 thousand cycles per second. The greater wax moth, also known as the honeycomb moth, can hear sounds that reach up to 300 kHz!
• Snakes hear sounds through their jawbones! The inner ears of a snake are attached to its jawbones. As a result, the vibrations move from the jawbones to the ear before the brain processes the sounds.  
• Ear piercing is one of the oldest known forms of body modification.
• The sense of hearing and touching are the only senses that are types of mechanosensation (the process in which mechanical stimuli are translated into neuronal impulses. This is the physiological foundation for experiencing senses like touch, hearing, and balance.)  
• Crickets are able to hear through the tympanum, which are organs located on their front legs. 

The Sense of Sight

The human eye has the ability to see when visible light is processed by the eye and interpreted by the brain. 

Facts:

• The average human blinks 15-20 times per minute.  
• Human eyes are composed of more than two million functional parts.
• Newborn infants see everything upside down until their brain learns how to process what they see right side up.
• Dolphins close only one of their eyes when they sleep.
  
  

The Sense of Touch

The sense of touch is the result of a stimulus that becomes triggered and activates the sensory neuron. This stimulus notifies the area of the brain that is responsible for the specific body part. 

Facts: 

• The first sense to develop in humans is the sense of touch. It happens approximately 8 weeks into the gestation period.
• Touching stimulates the brain and signals it to release endorphins.
• Blood pressure and heart rate can slow down through a touch.
• An animal’s whiskers are used for survival. They help an animal with their vision, sensing their environment, and detect water currents. For example, cats use their whiskers to determine whether they can fit through a tight area. 
• Grasshoppers have hairs on their outer bodies that are used to detect the movement of air.

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The Sense of Taste

A chemical reaction occurs when a substance comes into contact with taste bud receptors, creating the sensation of taste.

Facts:

• The majority of people lose their perception of taste as they get older. On average, half of a person’s taste receptors are gone by the time they turn 20 years old. 
• A snake does not have taste buds on its tongue. Its tongue is used to gather scents and taste into its mouth. The pits of a snake’s mouth have receptors that transfer information to the brain. 
• A catfish has about 100,000 taste buds (whereas the average human has 10,000 taste buds).
• The five primary tastes are salt, sour, sweet, bitter, and umami. 

 
The Sense of Smell

The sense of smell happens after the brain receives signals that molecules in the air attach to areas of the olfactory receptors.

Facts:

• Scents smell different to everyone because there are more than 900,000 genetic variations of olfactory receptors. 
• Good smells can put you in a better mood.
• Humans are identified and recognized by dogs through scent.
• Odors can stimulate the progression of puberty, attract mates, and change a person’s menstrual cycle.
• Grizzly bears can smell food from up to 18 miles away.

If you are noticing changes in your sense of hearing, please contact us at Pure Sound Hearing for a free hearing test and consultation.

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