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| Components |
Magnets |
Sound Waves |
Hearing
Sound |
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Sound waves specifically are a type of wave called compressional waves, or waves that are created by a material being pushed and then propagating outward by further pushing on itself.
Animation courtesy of Dan Russel at Pennsylvania State University
Due to the cone of the speaker being attached to the moving voice coil, the cone pushes and pulls air molecules, as can be seen in the above animation. These waves in then continue to travel until they hit a person's eardrum, which works similarly to how a speaker works. The eardrum is pushed by the air molecules and that movement is translated into chemical signals that the brain can interpret into sound. In a way, hearing is just the effect that moving air molecules have on your eardrum which produces the phenomenon humans call sound.