First published: Creation 14(4):13 September 1992 Browse this issue Subscribe to Creation Magazine

Your hearing: a powerful pointer to God's creation

by Tom Wagner

Contemplation of the size of things that have been created can be a very effective tool in comprehending the greatness of God. For example, consider the Creator’s technical ability in a study of human hearing. The ability of our ears to detect sound is much greater than the minimum expected requirement for survival had man simply evolved.

In the book edited by David Lipscomb, 1988, Hearing Conservation in Industry, Schools, and the Military, we read on page 303:

‘The ear is capable of sensory response to sound whose pressure at the ear drum is no greater than two ten-thousands of a millionth of barometric pressure. This pressure moves the ear drum about one one-hundred-millionth of an inch. That dimension is approximately one one-hundredth the width of a hydrogen molecule, the tiniest of all known molecules. Therefore, throughout a significant portion of the ear’s dynamic range, it is moving in sub-molecular dimensions.’

To visually grasp the incredible sensitivity Lipscomb describes, imagine what it would be like to watch a six-foot man, standing on the surface of the earth, shrink to only one one-hundred-millionth of an inch. The earth, shrinking also—but still enormous when compared to the man—would proportionately reduce to a tiny ball no bigger than the small letter ‘o’ on this page! The man would become utterly invisible, even to the powerful microscopes of today.

Given this example, a person can begin to appreciate the way God has created the incomprehensibly tiny, as well as the unimaginably large, things of this universe. It also helps us to consider the miracle of hearing with which our Creator has blessed us. Something we should thank Him for. After all, ‘Faith cometh by hearing.’

So praise be to God for what He has done!