Published on: 2026-09-05
Sound Noise and Music Curiosities
Which of these surprising facts about human hearing relates to the physical limits of our ears?
Correct
The stapes bone, located in the middle ear, is the absolute lightweight champion of your skeleton at only 3 millimeters long. Humans actually cannot hear down to 1 Hertz, as our audible range typically kicks in at 20 Hertz. Your ears are surprisingly needy and keep growing slightly throughout your entire life, so they never really take a break. Sound actually travels much faster through water, but because our ears are specifically evolved to capture vibrations moving through air, we sound quite muffled and disoriented when we go for a swim.