The Gift of Hearing:
What if humans had no ears on the sides of their heads? Have you ever wondered a crazy question like that? Automatically, if someone were to ask you what the largest set back of living without ears would be, you might automatically think that we could no longer hear and enjoy the variety of sounds we might take for granted.
The wind could be felt and seen, but not heard rustling the leaves or prairie grasses, howling through windowpanes, or heard while going down the road in a vehicle, no birds or sounds of nature would be able to calm. The waves of the sea would not be heard. No dog barking, or cat meowing, and the farm! What a changed place it would be! If you visited the city, you couldn’t hear the ambiance of cars, such as breaks screeching, horns honking, motors running, or doors slamming.
But most of all, we would most certainly miss the wonderful gift of being able to communicate through our words, and the opportunity of being heard in specific tones of delight, humor, seriousness, and sadness. We would also miss singing, harmonizing, and enjoying listening to, and playing music. If this, alone, was something we would miss wouldn’t that be enough?
Power of Balance:
An added asset, when it comes to our ears, is yet another massive gift God gave to us when he designed them: Balance.
Have you ever stopped when you got out of bed in the morning and thought about the wonder of being so tall and yet able to stand up straight and walk, even on one leg if you wanted, and having great balance?
We walk without thinking about the value of having perfect balance. Imagine constantly trying to correct leaning the wrong way and not being able to stay upright or maintain correct upright posture.
Take a spoon on the end of your nose for a conscious example of constantly making corrections to perfectly balance it on the tip of your nose without it falling off. Or standing upon one leg. We do not find ourselves constantly correcting our balance or concerned with leaning or falling over when standing on two feet, at least not if things are working properly within our bodies.
When it comes to four-legged animals such as dogs, or cats, the balance point is found within those for points of contact. (Think about a table and how it balances its weight within the four table legs. Even a three-legged stool puts its balance point upon three points but imagine a two-legged stool!)
Humans actually have a greater sense of balance than dogs or cats. Our center of balance, between the front two feet, is a much smaller area.
The ear canals are arranged in 3 planes:
1. Horizontal
2. Vertical anterior
3. Vertical posterior
These are at right angles with each other. This arrangement gives three-dimensional sensing for balance!
Why is this something we should observe?
Many modern scientists tell us we evolved from an apelike ancestor but when you stop and take a closer look at how the human ear is designed, it is interesting to notice that compared to the design of the ears of apes, our semi-circular canals are different.
Humans have two large vertical planes and one small horizontal plane, while apes have three small canals similar in size.
Since the apes’ three canals are of similar size, its design specifically aids their tree-climbing habits! Since we do not live a majority of our lives climbing trees, it is incredibly unique that we have ears that are created in such a way to aid the balance of walking upright on our two legs! Does that sound like an accident or created design to you?
This special design that we observe could not simply “evolve” as we needed it to improve our balance for no reason. No one has ever seen any signs that this could happen.
