# Hearing

Hearing (or audition) is the ability to perceive sound by detecting vibrations through an organ such as the ear. It is one of the traditional five senses. The inability to hear is called deafness. In humans and other vertebrates, hearing is performed primarily by the auditory system: vibrations are detected by the ear and transduced into nerve impulses that are perceived by the brain (primarily in the temporal lobe).

## Quotes

* Alcmaeon was, says [J.] Wachtler, the first who attempted to explain the phenomenon of sound and our perception of it by reference to the structure of the ear itself. Empedocles to some extent follows or agrees with him. ...Empedocles teaches that hearing is caused by the impact of the air-wave against the cartilage which is suspended within the ear, oscillating as it is struck, like a gong.
** John Isaac Beare, Greek Theories of Elementary Cognition from Alcmaeon to Aristotle (1906)
* He ne'er presumed to make an error clearer;— In short, there never was a better hearer.
** Lord Byron, Don Juan (1818-24), Canto XIV, Stanza 37.
* Your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.’ My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.
** Ezekiel 33:30 NIV
* Little pitchers have wide ears.
** George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651).
* Who is so deaf as he that will not hear?
** George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651).
* Where more is meant than meets the ear.
** John Milton, Il Penseroso (1631), line 120.
* I was all ear, And took in strains that might create a soul Under the ribs of death.
** John Milton, Comus (1637), line 560.
* Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius, Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.
** William Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar (1599), Act II, scene 1, line 318.
* Hear me for my cause, and be silent, that you may hear.
** William Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar (1599), Act III, scene 2, line 13.
* Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
** William Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar (1599), Act III, scene 2, line 78.
* All lies and jest, still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.
** Simon & Garfunkel The Boxer (1969)

### Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations

    Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 357.
* One eare it heard, at the other out it went.
** Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Book IV, line 435.
* Within a bony labyrinthean cave, Reached by the pulse of the aërial wave, This sibyl, sweet, and Mystic Sense is found, Muse, that presides o'er all the Powers of Sound.
** Abraham Coles, Man, the Microcosm; and the Cosmos, p. 51.
* None so deaf as those that will not hear.
** Matthew Henry, Commentaries, Psalm LVIII.
* Went in at the one eare and out at the other.
** John Heywood, Proverbs, Part II, Chapter IX.
* Hear ye not the hum Of mighty workings?
** John Keats, Addressed to Haydon, Sonnet X.
* Where did you get that pearly ear? God spoke and it came out to hear.
** George MacDonald, Song, At the Back of the North Wind, Chapter XXXIII.
* He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
** Mark, IV. 9.
* They never would hear, But turn the deaf ear, As a matter they had no concern in.
** Jonathan Swift, Dingley and Brent.
* He that has ears to hear, let him stuff them with cotton.
** William Makepeace Thackeray, Virginians, Chapter XXXII.
* Strike, but hear me.
** Themistocles, Rollin's Ancient History, Book VI, Chapter II, Section VIII.

## See also

* Deafness
* Sound
* Listen