Trick your ears!

When you hear someone speak, you don’t just hear what they are saying. You can also tell where they are. Trick your ears by making this simple ‘Ear Switcher’. All you need is about a metre of hosepipe, a couple of funnels and some sticky tape. Cut the hose into two pieces, stick a funnel in the end of each one, then tape it together as in the picture. If you have a plastic Alice band, stick the whole thing on that to make it easier. Pop it on your head and hold the free ends of the tube in your ears (never stick anything right into your ear!). Now close your eyes and get someone to make noises, can you work out where they are? We normally work out direction because sounds reach one ear before the other. Sound travels super-fast (over 700 miles per hour) so there is only about a two-thousandth of a second between hearing it in one ear and then the other. Your brain is clever enough to notice that difference and use it work out a direction….until you confuse it with an Ear Switcher!