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Published online 13 March 2006 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news060313-2
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Ear's spiral responds to bass
New theory explains why our hearing machinery is coiled up.
Why is our cochlea, the key organ of hearing, curled into a spiral? It has been often thought to be a space-saving measure. But researchers in the United States have shown that the spiral could be vital for increasing our ear's sensitivity to sound, particularly at low frequencies.
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