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Information about External Ear

External and middle ear, opened from the front. Right side.
The auricula. Lateral surface.
subject #229 1033
MeSH External+Ear
The outer ear is the external portion of the ear.

Pinna, or auricle

The visible part is called the pinna and functions to collect and focus sound waves. Many mammals can move the pinna (with the auriculares muscles) in order to focus their hearing in a certain direction in much the same way that they can turn their eyes. Most humans, unlike most other mammals, do not have this ability.

Ear canal, or external auditory meatus

From the pinna the sound pressure waves move into the ear canal, a simple tube running to the middle ear. This tube amplifies frequencies in the range 3 kHz to 12 kHz.

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Sensory system: Auditory and Vestibular systems
Outer earPinna (Helix, Antihelix, Tragus, Antitragus, Earlobe) • Ear canal
Middle earEardrum • Ossicles (Malleus, Incus & Stapes) • Stapedius • Tensor tympani • Eustachian tube (Torus tubarius)
Inner ear/LabyrinthBony labyrinth (Vestibule) • Membranous labyrinth
Oval window • Helicotrema • Round window
Cochlea: Spiral ganglion • Modiolus • Cochlear duct/scala media (Endolymph, Stria vascularis, Spiral ligament, Organ of Corti) • Scala vestibuli and Scala tympani (Perilymph)
Reissner's/vestibular membrane • Basilar membrane • Tectorial membrane
Organ of Corti: Hair cells • Stereocilia • Sulcus spiralis (externus, internus) • Limbus spiralis
Vestibular systemStatic/translations: Utricle (Macula) - Saccule (Macula, Endolymphatic sac, Endolymphatic duct) - Kinocilium - Otolith
Kinetic/rotations: Semicircular canals (Superior, Posterior, Horizontal) • Cupula • Ampullae (Crista ampullaris)
Brain (auditory)Cochlear nerve VIII → Cochlear nuclei → Superior olivary nuclei → Lateral lemniscus → Inferior colliculi → Medial geniculate nuclei → Primary auditory cortex
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a huge controlled vocabulary (or metadata system) for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. Created and updated by the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), it is used by the MEDLINE/PubMed
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outer ear is the most external portion of the ear. The outer ear includes the pinnae (also called auricle), the ear canal, and the very most superficial layer of the ear drum (also called the tympanic membrane).
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The pinna (Latin for feather) is the visible part of the ear that resides outside of the head (this may also be referred to as the auricle or auricula).

Purpose

The purpose of the pinna is to collect sound.
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Mammalia
Linnaeus, 1758

Subclasses & Infraclasses
  • Subclass †Allotheria*
  • Subclass Prototheria
  • Subclass Theria

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The Auriculares muscles are the three muscles surrounding the auricula or outer ear.
  • The Auricularis anterior (Attrahens aurem), the smallest of the three, is thin and fan-shaped, and its fibers are pale and indistinct.

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Eyes are organs of vision that detect light. Different kinds of light-sensitive organs are found in a variety of organisms. The simplest eyes do nothing but detect whether the surroundings are light or dark, while more complex eyes can distinguish shapes and colors.
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wave is a mode of energy transfer from one place to another, often with little or no permanent displacement of the particles of the medium (i.e. little or no associated mass transport); instead there are oscillations around almost fixed positions.
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The ear canal (external auditory meatus, external acoustic meatus), is a tube running from the outer ear to the middle ear. The ear canal extends from the pinna to the eardrum and is about 26 mm in length and 7 mm in diameter.
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The middle ear is the portion of the ear internal to the eardrum, and external to the oval window of the cochlea. The mammalian middle ear contains three ossicles, which couple vibration of the eardrum into waves in the fluid and membranes of the inner ear.
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hertz (symbol: Hz) is the SI unit of frequency. Its base unit is cycle/s or s-1 (also called inverse seconds, reciprocal seconds). In English, hertz is used as both singular and plural.
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sensory system: in this case, vision, for the visual system. ]]

A sensory system is a part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory information.
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The auditory system is the sensory system for the sense of hearing.

Ear

Main article: Ear

Outer ear

Main article: Outer ear

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The vestibular system, or balance system, is the sensory system that provides the dominant input about our movement and orientation in space. Together with the cochlea, the auditory organ, it is situated in the vestibulum in the inner ear (Figure 1).
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The pinna (Latin for feather) is the visible part of the ear that resides outside of the head (this may also be referred to as the auricle or auricula).

Purpose

The purpose of the pinna is to collect sound.
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The prominent rim of the auricula is called the helix. Where the helix turns downward behind, a small tubercle is frequently seen: the auricular tubercle of Darwin.

Additional images



The muscles of the auricula.

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antihelix, also known as the anthelix; this divides above into two crura, between which is a triangular depression, the fossa triangularis.

Additional images



The muscles of the auricula.

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tragus, so called from its being generally covered on its under surface with a tuft of hair, resembling a goat’s beard, "goat" being the origin of the word, from the Greek tragos.
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antitragus.

External links

  • SUNY Labs 30:01-0105
  • Norman/Georgetown lesson3 ( externalear ) (#6)
  • Diagram at bodymodforums.

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On the ear of humans and many other animals, the earlobe (lobulus auriculæ, sometimes simply lobe or lobule) is the soft lower part of the Cory Drosen's ear, similar in composition to the labia, or pinna.
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The ear canal (external auditory meatus, external acoustic meatus), is a tube running from the outer ear to the middle ear. The ear canal extends from the pinna to the eardrum and is about 26 mm in length and 7 mm in diameter.
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The middle ear is the portion of the ear internal to the eardrum, and external to the oval window of the cochlea. The mammalian middle ear contains three ossicles, which couple vibration of the eardrum into waves in the fluid and membranes of the inner ear.
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The tympanic membrane, colloquially known as the eardrum, is a thin membrane that separates the external ear from the middle ear. Its function is to transmit sound vibrations from the air, conducted through the external acoustic meatus to the ossicles inside the
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The ossicles (also called auditory ossicles) are the three smallest bones in the human body. They are contained within the middle ear space and serve to transmit sounds from the air to the fluid-filled labyrinth (cochlea).
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malleus or hammer is a hammer-shaped small bone or ossicle of the middle ear which connects with the incus and is attached to the inner surface of the eardrum. The word is Latin for hammer.
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For the record label, see Incus Records.


The incus or anvil is the anvil-shaped small bone or ossicle in the middle ear. It connects the malleus to the stapes. It was first described by Alessandro Achillin of Bologna.
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The stapes or stirrup is the stirrup-shaped small bone or ossicle in the middle ear which attaches the incus to the fenestra ovalis, the "oval window" which is adjacent to the vestibule of the inner ear. It is the smallest and lightest bone in the human body.
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The stapedius is the smallest striated muscle in the human body. At just over one millimeter in length, its purpose is to stabilize the smallest bone in the body, the stapes.
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The tensor tympani, the larger of the two muscles of the tympanic cavity, is contained in the bony canal above the osseous portion of the auditory tube, from which it is separated by the septum canalis musculotubarii.
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The Eustachian tube (or auditory tube) is a tube that links the pharynx to the middle ear. In adults the Eustachian tube is approximately 35 mm long. It is named after the 16th century anatomist Eustachius.
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torus tubarius or cushion, behind the pharyngeal orifice of the tube.

External links

  • SUNY Labs 31:14-0102
  • MedEd at Loyola grossanatomy/dissector/labs/h_n/nasal/na4_1.html
  • Roche Lexicon - illustrated navigator, at Elsevier 25420.

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