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People who are profoundly deaf and candidates for cochlear implant surgery often have musical hallucinations, hearing symphonies and concerts in their heads. These hallucinations disappear after the implant, which allows them to hear speech.

The ear is the most sensitive sensory organ, capable of detecting displacements at the sub-angstrom level, which is smaller than the diameter of a hydrogen atom.

Outer hair cells in the inner ear can move at audio frequencies up to 20,000 hertz in humans and up to 100,000 hertz in bats, showcasing the incredible design of the auditory system.

The cochlea is a coiled organ where high frequencies are encoded at the base and low frequencies at the apex, illustrating the intricate tuning of the inner ear.

Current imaging technologies like CT scans and MRIs cannot detect cells in the inner ear due to its tiny size, which complicates the diagnosis of hearing loss.

Hearing loss is a huge problem, affecting 1.5 billion people and disabling half a billion. The World Health Organization estimates another billion will be affected by 2050. This issue is underappreciated and stigmatized, with many living in silence.

Hidden hearing loss can occur even if standard audiometric tests show normal results. This happens when synapses connecting sensory cells to neurons are damaged by loud sounds, leading to issues like tinnitus.