Your ears pick up sounds. Sounds are caused by molecules in the air being rapidly pushed together and pulled apart. These are called vibrations. Your ears pick up these vibrations. They are turned into signals and carried along nerves to the brain.

Eardrum

All sounds are vibrations in the air. Your outer ears, the flaps on the outside of your head, funnel the vibrations into the tube inside. They are picked up by the eardrum. This is a patch of thin skin fixed across the tube. Tiny bones, called the hammer, anvil and stirrup, are attached to the eardrum. They send the vibrations to the inner ear.

Balance

Your ears also help you keep your balance. Inside your inner ear are three tiny tubes, called semicircular canals. Each of these has liquid inside them. When you move your head, this liquid sloshes around. Cells lining the inside walls pick up the movements. They change them into signals and send them along a nerve to the brain.

Dizziness

When you spin around quickly, then stop suddenly, the liquid inside the semicircular canals keeps on sloshing around for a while. This confuses the brain. It makes you feel you dizzy.