Page 17 - LN-NEURAL CONTROL & COORDINATION

hearing and maintenance of body balance.

Position
The ears are located on the sides of the head.
In most mammals, the ear is a flap of tissue also called pinna. It is a part of
auditory system.

The mammalian ear can be anatomically divided into three major sections
1. External Ear
The external ear consists of pinna and the auditory canal (external auditory
meatus), which collect sound waves and channel them to tympanic membrane
(ear drum) separating the outer ear from the middle ear.

The auditory canal leads inwards and extends upto the tympanic membrane
(the ear drum).
There are very fine hairs and wax-secreting sebaceous glands in the skin of the
pinna and the meatus. The tympanic membrane is composed of connective
tissues covered with skin outside and with mucus membrane inside.
2. Middle Ear

The middle ear contains three ossicles called malleus (hammer), incus (anvil)
and stapes (stirr-up), which are attached to one another in a chain-like fashion.
The malleus is attached to the tympanic membrane and the stapes is attached
to the oval window (a membrane beneath the stapes) of cochlea.
These ossicles increase the efficiency of transmission of sound waves to the
inner ear.
The middle ear also opens into the Eustachian tube, which connects with the
pharynx and maintains the pressure on either sides of the ear drum. It also
enables you to ‘pop’ your ears when you change altitude.

3. Inner Ear
The inner ear consist of a labyrinth of fluid-filled chambers within the temporal