By: Giovanni Ngai

Have you ever seen those mermaids in Disney movies, or just any movie that has a mermaid in it? The mermaid was in the water, and they were talking, right? Well, have you ever wondered what they would sound like in real life? As of August 2023, people are starting to wonder what they would sound like in real life when they are underwater, most commonly in the sea. People want to know about this because they know that talking underwater is certainly very different from talking on land. But one has to know how our ears work and what is different about marine animals’ ears that makes them able to hear underwater better than us.

A human’s ear is a complex system in the body. It all starts with the source of the sound that the ear is picking up. Sound is produced when an object vibrates. You can try this out by putting a finger on your throat and talking. You will feel a vibration. This vibration travels through gasses, liquids, and solids, and in each of these mediums, there are atoms and molecules that are being pushed around by the source’s back and forth motion that create a rippling effect. The sound wave then spreads the sound out and away from the sound source.

But underwater, it’s a whole other story. Instead of our ear picking up the sound, it is our skull because our ears are surrounded by water. Since our skull and the water have the same density, the skull acts like our ears underwater. So when sound waves gently rattle the skull, they are “… directly stimulating the inner ear—the cochlea itself,” Singh says. Singh studies human hearing at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. According to her, that is called “bone conduction.” Then you might ask, “Why do we not hear as well when we are not in water as when we are in water?” Well, that is because we are more used to the sound waves hitting our eardrums than our skull, so the sound quality may not be as good as air conduction.

Mermaids would not sound as clear as they would if you talked to someone else on land. And the chances of you even seeing a real mermaid in real life are close to impossible. Our ears are designed to hear through the air and not the water. You would know that if you ever tried to talk in a pool. Now that you know how a human would sound underwater, you are probably more thankful that you are listening to them through a TV, as you would hear gibberish if not.

Links: https://www.snexplores.org/article/mermaid-underwater-sound