"Ear Ye, Ear Ye" | The Institute for Creation Research

 
"Ear Ye, Ear Ye"
Inner Ear

As the story goes, a medical doctor asked his child, "Didn't you register the alternate phases of rarefaction and condensation of my vocal cord emissions impacting your tympanic membrane?" "Dad," the child sighs, "why don't you just ask if I heard you?" Hearing is an incredible process of turning the slightest sound wave, traveling at 770 m.p.h. (344 m/s), into a sensation that our brain can process and then react to.

Creative design and organization is seen throughout the hearing process, starting with our eardrum that functions as a resonator. The faintest sound people can hear is due to the eardrum moving a mere one tenth the diameter of a hydrogen atom. The eardrum's movement is transmitted by three of the smallest bones in our body to specially designed lymphs (fluids) in the amazing cochlea. Vibrations from the ear bones (ossicles) are sent through the fluids which are then transmitted into nerve impulses in the true organ of hearing, the organ of Corti. The impulses proceed through the vestibulo-cochlear nerve to the brain for interpretation.

The evidence for a "clearly seen" (or in this case, heard) creation is forcefully found in the innermost workings of our ear. Research has revealed incredible features of the auditory and vestibular sensory systems. There are ultra-tiny, braided structures extending from a hair cell to an abutting taller sensory cell (sterocilia) called the tip link.1 All these cells are submerged in the above-mentioned lymph. Through detailed interactions of elastic elements and gating springs, the tip line (the braided portion of the tip link) opens ion channels in the taller stereocilium. This happens when the tip line is pulled as the cells move—like wheat stalks in the wind—in response to sound. Various ions are now allowed to rapidly enter the cell and contribute to membrane depolarization, part of the hearing process. "There is still considerable uncertainty about subsequent events"2 but this detailed process may also require a special molecular motor embedded in the stereocilium membrane. The tiny motor is connected to the tip line and it moves the entire ion channel down and up the cell membrane to close the channel. In previous ICR articles, these amazing molecular machines were discussed (Acts & Facts, April 2004) and "are still not fully understood."3

Whether it's hearing thundering ocean surf, Chopin's emotional nocturnes, or "Lunch is ready!" there are aspects of this process that remain a deep mystery. Detailed research that will one day possibly answer these questions will have no Darwinian foundation. "He who hath ears to hear, let him hear . . ." the case for creation!

  1. http://www.molbiolcell.org/content/vol12/issue5/cover.shtml
  2. Ganong, Review of Medical Physiology, McGraw Hill, 2003, p. 178.
  3. http://www.nanonet.go.jp/english/mailmag/2005/061b.html

Cite this article: Frank Sherwin, D.Sc. (Hon.). 2006. "Ear Ye, Ear Ye". Acts & Facts. 35 (3).

The Latest
NEWS
Marine Mammals: Designed for Deep Diving
While you’re reading this, hold your breath. What is now happening is your blood is delivering the last of oxygenated blood cells to your tissues...

CREATION PODCAST
Humanity's Demise at the Hands of Genetic Entropy | The Creation...
Welcome to the fourth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old earth...

NEWS
''Inside-Out'' Fossil is Amazingly Preserved
It is widely known that vast numbers of fossils—vertebrate and invertebrate—have been discovered incredibly well-preserved.1,2...

NEWS
The Resurrection and the Origin of Life
At Easter time we focus on the cardinal Christian doctrine of the Resurrection. Without the Resurrection, Christianity is a sham. The truth that Jesus...

NEWS
Is an Ancient Extinct Tree-Dweller Our Relative?
Human evolution has always been hazy with seemingly as many attempted explanations for how we evolved from animals as there are paleoanthropologists. Evolutionists...

NEWS
The Return of the Dire Wolf?
There’s been much recent excitement about the birth of three dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus) puppies by a Dallas-based biotech company: Colossal Bioscience....

CREATION PODCAST
Cracks in the Layers: Lake Suigetsu and the Old Earth Illusion...
Welcome to the third episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old earth...

NEWS
Fish Fossil Vomit
A rather unsavory news story recently appeared regarding fossilized vomit. Although it’s hardly dinner table conversation, it nonetheless supports...

NEWS
Dino Footprints Down Under
Dinosaur trackways1 are once again making the news. Australia is the setting of a remarkable series of dinosaur tracks attributed to ornithischian...

NEWS
April 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things...