How a tiny lever in your ear prevents hearing loss
When sound travels from air to the fluid in your inner ear, most of it reflects away. This video explains the clever mechanical solution your body uses to overcome this acoustic mismatch.
The transition from air to the water inside your inner ear creates an impedance mismatch. Without a way to bridge this gap, sound waves would simply bounce off the boundary, leaving our hearing significantly impaired. To solve this, two of the three bones in your middle ear function as a lever, providing the mechanical advantage necessary to transmit sound effectively.
Source: There's a Lever in Your Ear and It Does Something Amazing
