Functional map
Sound to perception: pinna/canal collect and filter sound; drum and ossicles transmit it; cochlear hair cells transduce it; auditory neurons encode and convey it to the brain.
Conductive loss reduces mechanical delivery to the cochlea.
Cochlear loss can reduce audibility, frequency selectivity and dynamic range.
Neural dysfunction can impair speech understanding disproportionately to detection thresholds.
Figure: Overview of the outer, middle and inner ear. BruceBlaus, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.