Our Wonderful Ears And Their Care (1964)

[Music] every morning as dick gets ready for school he thinks about the things he's going to be doing in class today he's thinking about his ears because he's going to have them tested at school what would it be like if he couldn't hear now dick can hardly hear His Radio but when he uncovers his ears he hears it once again dick is enjoying the music music is only one of the many sounds he hears pres is ready di there's another familiar sound his mother's voice I'm coming mom dick enjoys hearing the canary and the whistling of the tea kettle dick realizes that he hears many things there's something else dick hears that must be Jimmy dick and Jimmy are going to walk to school together on their way to school dick and Jimmy hear more sounds that's Mr Potter's dog now they hear the sound of a Jet Plane here's a sound which helps keep them safe yes dick and his friends and we too hear many different sounds now in the nurse's office at school dick and his classmates are about to have their hearing tested this is Miss Adams she has had special training in testing the hearing of boys and girls she visits different schools on different days today she's testing the children at dick School the instrument that Miss Adams uses is called an audiometer it can produce different sounds each time dick Hears A Sound he raises his hand there's a sound that we can hear but dick isn't raising his hand doesn't he hear it now a little while later miss Adams and Dick are talking about the hearing test Miss Adams notices that dick has a slight cold she believes that it's probably because of his cold that dick was not able to hear certain sounds during his test Miss Adams is writing Dick's mother a note she is suggesting that dick have his ears checked by a doctor to make sure that Dick's cold is not serious and that his hearing will be all right the next day dick and his mother visit Dr Allen the inst strument the doctor is using allows him to look into Dick's ears the instrument is called an odoscope Dr Ellen has found that Dick's cold has caused a slight ear infection the doctor is giving Dick's mother a prescription for medicine that will help clear up the infection dick doesn't understand though how a cold can cause an ear infection to explain Dr Allen is going to show dick a drawing of the Year dick certainly recognizes this outer part of the year but Dr Allen shows dick that other parts of the ear are inside the head the part of the ear that Dr Allen is now pointing out is the ear canal the ear canal is lined with many little hairs it is also lined with wax the hairs in the wax keep out dirt the ear canal leads to the eardrum on the other side of the eardrum are three bones they are actually very small but on this large drawing we can see them clearly their common names are the hammer the Anvil and the sterup they are connected to one another the last of the three bones the sterup is connected to a part of the ear which looks something like a snail shell from this part of the ear a large nerve leads to the brain the ear is also connected by this narrow tube to the throat if you have a cold it's possible for germs in your throat to travel up this tube to your ear the germ May then infect the ear that's probably what happened with dick but of course his ear is being treated right away so he's going to be all right now that dick knows a little about his ears he'd like to know how we hear Dr Allen says he can explain that by using a pan of water with a pencil he's making little waves that move across the water sounds cause waves too they move somewhat like the waves in the water but sound waves travel through the air some of these waves reach our ears the sound waves pass through the ear canal to the eardrum the movement of the sound waves causes the eardrum to move back and forth very rapidly Dr Allen says the eardrum vibrates somewhat like this ruler is vibrating the motion of the eardrum then causes the three little bones to move the last of the three bones carries the movements deeper inside the ear the movements cause a signal to travel along the hearing nerve when the signal reaches the brain we recognize the sound now that dick realizes how we hear and how wonderful and delicate our ears are Dr Allen reminds dick how to take good care of them using a model Dr Allen starts by showing dick how to wash the outer part of the ear it's several days since dick visited Dr Allen his cold is gone and his ears are all right dick has learned quite a few things about his ears and how to care for them whenever he takes a shower or bath he carefully washes the outer parts of his ears if too much wax collects in the ear canal and that hardly ever happens he knows that only a doctor should remove [Applause] it dick is careful not to make loud sounds near someone's ears this drum was broken because it was struck too hard dick knows that loud noises near the ear and hard blows to the ear should be avoid it a hard blow may break the eardrum dick has learned another thing from Dr Allen the proper way to blow his nose you blow gently that's the important thing blowing gently and blowing only when necessary can prevent the spreading of germs to the [Music] ears the boys and girls in Dick's class have been very much interested in their ears since their hearing tests with the help of their teacher dick and his friends have put together a small model of the ear Dick's putting the finishing touches on it the children know that if they take good care of their ears they will continue to have good hearing good hearing also helps them enjoy sounds such as as listening to each other's voices over their homemade telephone can you hear me Jim yes I can hear you very well dick and the other boys and girls know that if they have even the slightest ear trouble they should immediately tell their parents or the school nurse or their teacher about it yes dick and his classmates know that good ear care helps keep their ears healthy and healthy ears mean good [Music] hearing