Hearing

Our ears are highly attuned to sounds in the world around us. It's not just the frequency of the sound itself. There are also subtle differences and shifts in loudness and pitch. That's what tells us, for instance, whether that baby crying belongs to us and just where it's located. But [according:relating] to a recent study, what you and I hear may not sound the same.[Scientists:Students] at the [University:School] of Oxford are trying to understand how the ears and the brain work together. They fit ferrets with auditory implants, trained them to respond to sound, and then looked at the way their neurons reacted. It turns out that each ferret's neurons in the auditory cortex [responded:replied] to changes in gradual differences in sound ­ but each ferret responded differently.The researchers say this is [applicable:related] to humans. They say this means that our brains are wired to process sounds depending on how our ears deliver that sound. So if you [suddenly:immediately] heard the world through my ears, it might sound quite different. The scientists say this research could help in the quest to design better hearing aids and speech recognition systems.