In the past, it was a common belief that snakes couldn’t hear much if anything since they have no external ears and don’t seem to respond to noises. However, scientific research refutes this common misconception.
As previously mentioned, snakes do not have external ears (pinnae) or eardrums like we do but they do have fully formed inner ear structures. In addition to their inner ear structures, they have a bone called the quadrate bone in their jaws. This bone moves slightly in response to vibrations while they slither on the ground.
For many years it was undetermined whether or not snakes could hear noises that were not ground vibrations. Research has since shown that this quadrate bone does, in fact, respond to airborne vibrations as well as ground vibrations1? (thought to be due to spinal nerves that have conducted the vibrations from the skin recognizing them and causing the quadrate bone to vibrate, referred to as somatic hearing). As with other animal ears, this movement is transferred (via bones) to the inner ear and then signals are sent to the brain and interpreted as sound.
Picture Credit : Google