Hearing - The world would be a very different place without our ears! We want to tell children that we can listen to other people speaking, birds singing, dogs barking, and water running with our ears.
 
When children touch any of the scenes on the panel, they can hear the corresponding sound. There are also buttons for high-pitched and low-pitched sounds. While examining the sound wave diagrams, children can use their ears to identify the differences between them. We also explain to children that sound travels through the air in the form of waves.
 
Our ears collect all the sound waves around us and send the vibrations as signals to our brains. We have added a clear acrylic tube to demonstrate to children how sound travels through the air. Every time a sound is played, children should find that there are different degrees of vibrations on the foam balls sitting in the middle of the tube. The foam balls vibrate when sound waves pass by.
 
For example, when the sound of a thunderstorm is being played, children can see the foam balls vibrating. This is a good idea to let children "see" the transmission of sound waves. The wall panel also explains to children that sound can vary in magnitude (loudness), and we need to protect our ears when the surroundings are too loud.