Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sounds by detecting vibrations, changes in the pressure of the surrounding medium through time, through an organ such as the ear. The academic field concerned with hearing is auditory science.
Within a bony labyrinthean cave, Reached by the pulse of the aërial wave, This sibyl, sweet, and Mystic Sense is found, Muse, that presides o'er all the Powers of Sound.
Abraham Coles, Man, the Microcosm; and the Cosmos, p. 51.