Your brain is the true hero in making sense of sound

Your brain is always receiving sound

Your brain receives a constant stream of sound from the ears - throughout the day and night. This is made up of all the sounds in your environment.

The brain needs to orient to this continuous sound stream. It analyses and organises the stream into different sound objects based on location, pitch and loudness.^{1, 2}

The brain is now ready to choose which of these sound objects to focus on and listen to.

When we have the full sound picture, it is easier to choose which sound is most important to us to hear. Your brain can then use the sound information to activate countless other brain activities such as:
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• Recognising and comprehending speech using your working memory
  
• Triggering an emotion based on what you hear, such as happiness or fear
  
• Formulating a response to a question
  
• Jumping out of the way of danger
• Remembering important information like someone’s name in your long-term memory
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With a full sound picture, the brain can reduce interfering sounds.