The portion of the ear responsible for sound transduction is the cochlea, located in the inner ear.
The cochlea is a spiral-shaped organ filled with fluid and lined with thousands of hair cells. When sound waves enter the ear, they cause the eardrum to vibrate, and these vibrations travel through the middle ear bones to the cochlea. Inside the cochlea, the vibrations create waves in the fluid, which then move the hair cells.
These hair cells are essential for converting mechanical energy from the sound waves into electrical signals that the brain can interpret. When the hair cells move, they generate nerve impulses that are sent through the auditory nerve to the brain, allowing us to perceive sound.
In summary, the cochlea plays a pivotal role in transducing sound waves into neural signals, making it the key structure for sound transduction in the ear.