Body & HealthHow it works
How your cochlea sorts tones by place, not by time.
The basilar membrane in the cochlea is stiff and narrow at the base, soft and wide at the apex. High frequencies therefore peak near the base, low ones only at the apex. Georg von Békésy made this travelling wave visible and won the Nobel Prize in 1961.
Useful: Your cochlea works like an unrolled keyboard: every pitch has its own address.
Source: en.wikipedia.org