The auditory system consists of the ear located in the periphery, in which a conversion of the sound into an electrical signal takes place, and neurons, which perform central processing based on action potentials. The most important anatomical and functional features of the auditory system are explained. For this purpose, a selective literature search was carried out in the databases PubMed (also in the Europe PubMed Central), Psychline, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library and Web of Science. Additional information was obtained from relevant books or websites in the fields of (neuro)anatomy, (neuro)physiology, (neuro)ophthalmology and (neuro)otology, among others with the keywords Hörbahn, auditory system, auditory pathway, receptors, spatial hearing and auditory cognition.
Keywords: Action potential; Auditory system; Neuroanatomy; Neurophysiology; Otology.