ANATOMY &

PHYSIOLOGY
OF EAR
Presented By:
M.Talha Ghauri
 Anatomy of Ear
Ear is divided into three main regions
External ear
Middle ear
Inner ear
 ANATOMY OF
EAR

External ear
Inner ear
1. Auricle (Pinna)
2. External Middle ear 1. Semicircular
1. Auditory canals
auditory canal
Ossicles 2. Vestibule
3. Tympanic
2. Oval window 3. Cochlea
membrane (Ear
drum) 3. Eustachian tube
 External Ear
Auricle (Pinna)
It is flap of elastic cartilage.
It is covered by skin.
Rim of auricle is called helix.
Inferior portion is called lobule.
Plays important role in localization of sound.
It open into external auditory canal.
 External auditory canal
Curved tube, extends from pinna to eardrum.
Near the external opening the external auditory canal contains a
few hairs and ceruminous glands.
Ceruminous glands secrete the cerumen (ear wax)
Combination of hairs and cerumen helps preventing dust and
foreign objects from entering the ear.
 Tympanic membrane
External auditory canal ends at the tympanic
membrane also called as ear drum
It is thin, semi transparent partition between external
auditory canal and middle ear.
It is covered by epidermis.
 Middle Ear
Middle ear is small air filled cavity in temporal bone.
It is lined by epithelium.
It is separated from external ear by ear drum.
It is separated from inner ear by oval window.
The structures of middle ear are:
 Auditory Ossicles
 Oval window
 Eustachian tube
 Auditory Ossicles
These are the smallest three bones of the body.
Connected by synovial joints.
The three bones are:
 The Malleus
 The Incus
 The Stapes
 Malleus
It is the first bone of the middle ear.
The handle of the malleus is attached with internal surface of
eardrum.
Head of malleus articulates with the body of incus.
Function:
The function of malleus is the transmission of sound waves or
vibrations from the tympanic membrane to the incus.
 Incus
It is the second bone.
It is located between the
malleus and stapes.
Its function is to transmit
vibrations from the malleus
to the stapes.
 Stapes
Stapes is the third and final bone of the middle ear.
It is the smallest and lightest bone of the human body.
The stapes connects with the incus and on the outward side
connects to the oval window.
The primary function of the stapes is transmitting sound waves
from the incus to the membrane of the inner ear.
The base or footplate of stapes fits into oval window.
 Oval window
It is a membrane-covered opening that leads from the middle
ear to the vestibule of the inner ear.
The oval window is the intersection of the middle ear with the
inner ear and is directly contacted by the stapes;
By the time vibrations reach the oval window, they have been
amplified over 10 times from what they were when they
contacted the tympanic membrane.
 Eustachian tube
 The middle ear is an air-filled space
 It consists of both bone and hyaline cartilage
 This runs from the middle ear to the naso-pharynx behind
the nose.
 It is normally closed at pharyngeal end
 During swallowing, chewing and yawing it opens
 It helps maintaining equal air pressure on the two sides of
ear drum.
 If pressure disturbed hinders clear and normal hearing.
 Inner Ear
It is also called as labyrinth
Two main divisions of labyrinth
Outer Bony labyrinth
Inner membranous labyrinth
 Inner Ear
Outer Bony labyrinth
 Bony labyrinth is a series of cavities in the temporal bone It is divided
into three regions
 Semicircular canals
 Vestibule
 Cochlea
 Bony labyrinth is lined with periosteum and contains fluid perilymph
which is similar to CSF.
 Inner Ear
Inner membranous labyrinth
 It is series of sacs and tubes inside of bony labyrinth
 membranous labyrinth is lined with epithelium
 It contains endolymph
 The level of potassium ions are high in endolymph
 Potassium ions generates the auditory signals
 Membranous labyrinth consists of two sacs.
 Utricle
 Saccule
 Outer bony labyrinth
Semicircular canals
 They are named:
 Anterior Semicircular canal
 Posterior Semicircular canal
 Lateral Semicircular canal
 Anterior and posterior are vertically oriented
 lateral is horizontally oriented
 Contains criste, site of hair cells, that maintain static equilibrium

Ampula
 One end of each canal is swollen enlargement is called ampula.
 Vestibule
 It is the central part. Lies between cochlea in front and semicircular
canal behind.
 It contains utricle and Saccule which are part of membranous labyrinth
 The walls of both Saccule and Utricle contain small thickened region is
called macula.
 Contains receptor for static equilibrium
 Maintains poster and balance
 Maculae contains two type of cells
 Hair cells ( Helps in acceleration )
 Supporting cells ( helps in hair cell growth through mitotic division )
 Cochlea
Snail shaped
Bony spiral canal
Divided into three channels
 Cochlear duct
 Scala vestibuli
 Scala tampani
 Cochlea
O It consists of neurons called HAIR CELLS; their axons form CN
VIII. The stapes is attached to the OVAL WINDOW, and vibrations
cause the perilymph to vibrate; the hair cells here transmit this
vibration. Therefore the HAIR CELLS in this region are receptors for
HEARING.
O the VESTIBULAR COCHLEAR NERVE, which takes the signals to
the brain.
O Therefore, the cochlea is where the hearing receptors are located, so
the cochlea is responsible for all of the hearing of sounds.
O However, the ear does more than just hear; it is also responsible for
balance and equilibrium.
 Physiology of Hearing
 Auricle/ pinna directs sound waves into external auditory
canal.
 When sound waves strike eardrum it cause the eardrum to
vibrate.
 The central area of eardrum is connected to malleus which
starts to vibrate.The vibration is transmitted from malleus to
incus then to stapes.
 As a stapes moves back and forth it pushes the membrane of
oval window in and out.
 Physiology of Hearing
The movements of the oval window sets up fluid
pressure waves in the perilymph.
So the vibrations are transmitted to “organ of corti”
through perilymph and endolymph.
From the organ of corti, the impulses (produced by
vibrations) are carried to brain through 8th cranial
nerve to auditory centers of brain which is present in
temporal lobe.
 Vestibular System
This system regulates balance.
It is also within the inner ear.
SEMI-CIRCULAR CANALS (Three of them, all in
different planes) determine movement in three planes.
Within each semi-circular canal is endolymph and hair
cells, which connect to nerves that go to the
cerebellum.
 Utricle & Saccule
Attached to the semi-circular canals are two joined structures
called the UTRICLE and the SACCULE.
These also contain HAIR CELLS and ENDOLYMPH.
Within the endolymph here are OTOLITHS (“ear rocks”)
which are calcium deposits.
When you stand perfectly upright, these otoliths fall directly
down and bend the HAIR CELLS (a special type of neuron)
on the lower cells. When you tip your head to the side, they
will stimulate the hairs on that side.
The otoliths stimulate the hair cells to tell you what
position your head is in and give you a sense of
equilibrium.
Therefore, the HAIR CELLS in this region are
receptors for equilibrium and the OTOLITHS are an
essential component of this process.