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Don:Say something, Yael.
唐:说点什么, 雅艾尔。
Say whatever you want, but talk directly into my right ear.
随便说什么,但声音要直接进入我的右耳。
YAEL:You're a nut.
雅艾尔:你可真够较真儿的。
DON:Okay. Now say the same thing in my left ear.
唐:好的。现在对我的左耳说一模一样的。
YAEL:Sure thing. You're still a nut. Now what on earth is this about?
雅艾尔:没问题。你个顽固。现在这到底是在演哪出?
DON:Hold up. Now sing something in my right ear.
唐:等等。现在在我的右耳朵边唱歌。
YAEL:Forget it. I'm doing no such thing until you tell me what's going on.
雅艾尔:你得了吧。我不干了,除非你告诉我发生什么事。
DON:I'm testing out the differences in how my right and left ears process sound.
唐:我在测试左右两耳在处理声音上的差异。
They don't process sound in the same way, you know.
你知道吗，它们不是以同样的方式处理声音。
YAEL:Are you sure about that?
雅艾尔:你肯定?
The left hemisphere of the brain dominates over the right in processing different sounds.
大脑的左半球支配着右边处理不同的声音。
I know that. Specifically, the left hemisphere dominates in processing rapidly changing sounds such as in speech, and the right hemisphere dominates in processing prolonged tones such as in music,
我明白。具体点说,左脑支配处理如演讲等快速变化的声音,而右脑主导处理如音乐等的长期音调,
but I didn't think that had anything to do with how our ears function.
但我不认为这些对于我们的耳朵功能有任何作用。
Don't they just deliver the signals to the brain, where all the processing happens?
它们不是所有处理都在发生时传递信号给大脑?
DON:That's what scientists used to think.
唐:这正是科学家们需要思考的问题。
But now they know that the processing of sound actually begins in our ears, before sound reaches the brain.
但是现在他们了解到在到达大脑前声音处理是从我们的耳朵开始。
And because the right ear connects to the brain's left hemisphere,
而且因为右耳连接大脑的左半球,
it's the dominant ear for processing rapidly changing sounds, and vice versa, the left ear dominates in processing prolonged tones.
这是处理快速变化的声音占主导地位的耳朵,反之亦然,左耳负责处理长时间的音调。
YAEL:Wow. This could mean some significant changes in the design of hearing devices.
雅艾尔:哇。这可能意味着在设计听力设备上会有一些显著的变化。
DON:That's a possibility, but only time will tell what the real implications for this finding are.
唐:这是一种可能性,但只有时间才能揭晓这一发现的真正含义。
