What is the definition of hearing?

Hearing is fundamentally defined as a purely physical phenomenon involving sound waves. This process refers to the mechanical reception of sound waves through the air or other mediums, leading to the perception of sound. When sound waves vibrate the eardrum and subsequently activate the auditory system, the result is the basic physiological experience of sound, which does not include any interpretation or subjective understanding of what those sounds signify.

The distinction lies in understanding that hearing is the sensory response to sound wave stimuli, whereas interpretation, meaning-making, and psychological processing come into play during subsequent acts like listening, which involve a higher level of cognitive function beyond mere hearing. Thus, the essence of hearing is in recognizing these sound waves as they interact with the auditory apparatus.