Structures of the Ear

The ear is divided into three spaces, the external, middle, and internal ear, all housed within the temporal bone of the skull. This model shows the structures of the middle and internal ear through the transparent temporal bone. The external ear receives sound waves from the environment and transmits them to the tympanic membrane (ear drum). From here, the movement of tympanic membrane leads to the vibration of the middle ear ossicles (malleus, incus, and stapes). Stapes (the smallest bone in the body) vibrates the oval window leading to fluid movement within the cochlea that is detected by the vestibulocochlear nerve. Then the brain interprets the volume, pitch, and location of the sound. Model created using BodyParts3D (lifesciencedb.jp/bp3d), Life Sciences Integrated Database Center licensed by CC Attribution-Inheritance 2.1 Japan, 2008 Described in the following lecture video: https://youtu.be/PPzVHwsYAdM