Sensing Organs

What Are Sensing Organs?

Your sensing organs are like detectors for what’s happening around you. These organs are very specialized. They turn what they detect into nerve signals and then send those signals through your nervous system and to your brain.

Your brain is like a computer, but it’s inside your skull. It can’t gather information about the outside world on its own. It needs your sensory organs to tell it what’s going on. Your brain uses signals from those organs to create your senses.

You’re probably familiar with the five basic senses, but there are actually more than that. Your senses include:

• Vision
• Hearing
• Smell
• Taste
• Touch (tactile sense)
• Balance
• External sense (proprioception)
• Internal sense (interoception)
• Pain

Experts agree there are definitely more senses than the basic five. But there’s some disagreement on the true number. Most experts say it’s around eight or nine. But some contend there are even more senses than that. Depending on who you ask, the number can go as high as 53.

What are the parts of the sensory nervous system?

Your sensory nervous system includes your sensing organs, nerves, spinal cord and specific parts of your brain, especially the thalamus. Your nerves and spinal cord are the connections that carry nerve signals from your sensory organs to your brain. Your sensory system also has strong ties to your memory, because sensory memory is useful for protecting you from harm.

Your sensing organs include your:

• Eyes: These are mainly for vision but also support your sense of balance.
• Ears (including your vestibular system): These are key to your senses of hearing and balance.
• Nose: This is how you get your sense of smell, and it’s also part of your sense of taste.
• Tongue: This is how you have your sense of taste.
• Skin: This is key for multiple senses, especially touch and pain. Your skin is sensitive to touch-related sensations, like temperature, texture, pressure and vibration.
• Nerve endings inside your body: These help your brain create your senses of proprioception and interoception. They’re also involved in sensing pain.

When are sensing organ issues a cause for concern?

Sometimes, changes in your senses are key symptoms of a health condition. The best example of that is your sense of pain. Your body uses the feeling of pain to tell you that something’s wrong and you need to do something about it. Pain becomes a serious concern when it’s severe enough to keep you from doing routine activities, or when it lasts a long time.

Other sensory changes can be warning signs, too. When the changes are gradual, they’re worth discussing with a healthcare provider. For example, contact a provider if you notice a slow decrease in your vision, hearing, taste or smell.

Sudden sensory changes can be much more serious — and the conversation can’t wait. Changes that need immediate medical care include sudden:

• Sensory loss: Sudden vision loss or hearing loss are examples.
• Sensing of things without an outside cause: For example, you might smell smoke or another odor for an extended time, even when you go somewhere else.
• Sensory changes on one side of your body only: For example, sudden numbness or vision loss on just one side could be a sign of a stroke.

When in doubt, it’s best to get help sooner rather than later. Healthcare providers would rather tell you that something is minor than see you delay care in an emergency.