How do owls hear?
The ear openings are also directed forward and are shielded beneath downy feathers within the owl’s familar facial disk. (The ear tufts of some owls have nothing to do with hearing.) The facial disk itself serves to focus sound waves into the ears. Strangely, the ear opening on the right is higher than the one on the left. Each ear therefore receives sound from a slightly different angle. This provides owls 3-D hearing in addition to 3-D seeing, thus doing us humans one better. Experiments have shown this sense to be so effective that Barn Owls can locate prey in total darkness by hearing alone.
