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How Your Dog Hears

Posted by Clare Bristow

Just like humans, dogs' ears are vitally important, not only for hearing us calling to them, but also for maintaining their balance.

A dog's ear can be a nice warm, moist and dirty environment and just the place bacteria, viruses and parasites love. Without routine examination and care, your dog's ears can easily become infected and, like humans, dogs find ear-ache very uncomfortable and painful.

Today I'm going to explain how the dog's ear is structured, because that will help you to understand how ear problems can arise, and it will give you a basic understanding of the terminology should your dog need to visit the vet for an ear examination.

How is the ear structured?

The Outer Ear - which comprises:

1. Ear flaps (Pinnas) - these either stand upright exposing the ear opening (like the chihuahua) or hang down and cover the ear opening (think Golden Retriever).
2. Ear Canal - this is a tube that runs from the ear flap down into your dog's head. The ear canal is long and narrow and has an almost 90 degree bend in it as it travels deep into your dog's head.
   At almost 2 inches long the ear canal is twice the length of a human ear canal, and this explains why dogs can hear sounds that are at a much higher frequencies that we can - remember the dog whistles which we can't hear but dogs can?

The Middle Ear - the end of the ear canal is marked by the eardrum, which is a thin membrane. The middle ear comprises three small bones contained in an air filled cavity; the air comes from a small tube that runs into the back of the throat (eustachian tube).

The Inner Ear - this contains the nerves that connect to the brain and the inner ear canal also contains fluid that controls your dogs balance.

How Does Your Dog Hear?

The ear flaps direct sound waves (air vibration) down the ear canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate.

The vibration from the eardrum causes the bones in the middle ear to vibrate, and the vibration is converted into electrical impulses via the movement of tiny hairs in the middle ear.

The electrical impulses are passed to the inner ear where nerves connect to the brain and the brain interprets these as sound.

What Can Go Wrong With the Ear?

As you can see from the description of the ear structure, it is a very delicate organ that can easily be damaged or become infected.

Here are some of the common afflictions:

• [tag]Ruptured eardrum[/tag] and damage to the ear canal through over-enthusiastic cleaning;
• Objects lodged in the ear - plant and grass seeds are common culprits;
• Ruptured blood vessels in the ear flap ([tag]ear haematoma[/tag]); and
• [tag]Ear mites[/tag]; and
• Inflammation of the ear caused by ear mites, foreign objects in the ear, allergies and bacteria, to name but a few causes.

As with your dog's teeth, regular examination and cleaning of your dog's ears will help with the prevention and/or the early detection of many of these conditions.

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