4th Grade Hearing Lesson 2 – Taking Care of Your Ears

Review In the last lesson, we learned about a very important part of our ears – our eardrums… Let’s review what we learned Where is the eardrum located? The eardrum is located at the end of the ear canal, in front of the middle ear What does the eardrum look like? The eardrum is a thin piece of sin that covers one end of the ear canal. What is the purpose of the eardrum? How does it help you hear? Sound vibrations move through the ear canal and hit the eardrum; the eardrum vibrates, or shakes, when the vibrations hit it, the shaking from the eardrum makes the tiny bones in the middle ear move.

Lets Read… Please open your student issues to page 2-3 Lets Read… Please open your student issues to page 2-3. Read the orange box entitled “Dr. Smartstuff Says…” Why would it be easy for a cotton swab or other object to damage the eardrum? The eardrum is a very thin piece of skin; an object could easily be poked through it. Because the eardrum is very thin and sensitive a loud blast of noise can actually burst, or rupture it. It is very important to protect your delicate eardrums from loud noises as well as foreign objects

Cleaning our ears… The outer ear should be cleaned with a damp washcloth only. Nothing should ever be poked into the ear. Some people even say, “Never put anything other than your elbow into your ear”. Give that a try… Why does that saying make sense?

Ear wax Glands in the ear canal produce earwax. Some people produce too much earwax. In those cases only a doctor should remove excess wax. Excess wax can block hearing

They why do we have earwax? Earwax helps prevent infection of the ear by coating the skin of he ear canal and keeping germs from entering the skin. Hairs in the ear canal called the cilia also trap dust and dirt.

Lets Read… Find the purple box entitled “The Eustachian Tube” The Eustachian tube is named for Bartolommeo Eustachio of Italy who discovered the tube in the 1500’s Because the tube is connected to the throat, infections from the throat can sometimes pass through the tube into the ear That’s why an earache sometimes accompanies an illness such as a cold.

More about the Eustachian tube The Eustachian tubes helps keep the air pressure in your ear at a normal level when the pressure in the outside air changes For example when you are taking off in a plane, when you are going up in an elevator or when you are driving up a mountainside. Without your Eustachian tube, your delicate ears could be damaged by changes in air pressure Usually the tubes are closed, but the outside ir pressure can force them open This allows air to escape so that it doesn’t build up inside your ear Ounce the air pressure outside is normal again, the tubes close once more

Worksheet…