THE HUMAN EAR

THE EAR

• The ears are specialised organs which enable you to hear sound.
• They are also concerned with the balance and position of the body.
• In mammals the ear is divided into three regions: the outer ear,
middle ear and inner ear.
 THE OUTER EAR
• The outer ear consists of a flap called auricle or pinna.
• Since the outer ear is the only visible portion of the ear in
most animals, the word "ear" often refers to the external
part alone.
• Leading from the pinna is a tube, the ear canal.
• It is about 2 cm long in humans.
• The pinna helps to trap and funnel sound into the ear.
Cont’d
• This is particularly important in animals with longer ears
than humans, which can move the pinna to pick up
sounds.
• At the end of the ear canal is a sheet of very thin
The pinna plays an
membrane called the eardrum or tympanum that closes important role for
the tube. antelopes, allowing
them both to pick up
• The pinna, ear canal and the eardrum form the outer sounds very easily and
also to find out which
ear. direction the sound is
coming from.
• Eardrum is the membrane in the ear that vibrates to
sound.
Cont’d
• At the entrance of the ear canal are a number of small hairs.
• These filter out dust particles from the air entering the ear canal.
• The cells lining the ear canal produce waxy material which traps dust
and germs, and lubricates the eardrum.
THE MIDDLE EAR
• The middle ear lies between the outer ear and the inner ear.
• It consists of an air-filled cavity called the tympanic cavity and
includes the three ossicles.
• The three tiny bones – called the malleus (hammer), the incus (anvil)
and the stapes (stirrup) because of their shape – are the smallest
bones in your body.
• They form joints with one another, with the malleus attached to the
eardrum and the stapes to the oval window.
• The cavity of the middle ear is connected to your throat by a tube
called the Eustachian tube.
Cont’d
• This is usually closed but when the pressure in the middle ear
increases – when you are flying, for example – the tube opens until
the air pressure in the middle ear is equal to that in the throat and
therefore to the atmosphere.
• At one end of the middle ear, opposite to the eardrum, there are two
openings:
• One of them is oval in shape and hence it is called the oval window.
• The other is round and is called the round window.
• The openings are covered by very thin membranes.
• Malleus (hammer) the ossicle attached to the eardrum
• Incus (anvil) the ossicle between the malleus and the stapes
• Stapes (stirrup) the stirrup-shaped ossicle that transmits sound from
the incus to the cochlea
 THE INNER EAR
• The inner ear consists of a cavity filled with a fluid, two sac-like structures
called the sacculus and utriculus, three semi-circular canals and a coiled
tube called the cochlea.
• A cross section of the cochlea reveals that it is made up of three tubes in
one.
• The floor of the middle tube is linked to affecter neurons which join to form
the auditory nerve.
MECHANISM OF HEARING
• Sound waves travel through the outer ear, are modulated by the
middle ear, and are transmitted to the vestibulocochlear nerve in the
inner ear.
• This nerve transmits information to the temporal lobe of the brain,
where it is registered as sound.
• In detail, the pinna of the outer ear helps to focus a sound,
which impacts on the eardrum.
• The malleus rests on the membrane, and receives the vibration.
• This vibration is transmitted along the incus and stapes to the
oval window.
• Two small muscles, the tensor tympani and stapedius, also help
modulate noise.
• The two muscles reflexively contract to dampen excessive vibrations.
• Vibration of the oval window causes vibration of the endolymph with
in the vestibule and the cochlea.
• The inner ear houses the apparatus necessary to change the
vibrations transmitted from the outside world via the middle ear into
signals passed along the vestibulocochlear nerve to the brain.
• The hollow channels of the inner ear are filled with liquid, and contain
a sensory epithelium that is studded with hair cells.
• The microscopic "hairs" of these cells are structural protein filaments
that project out into the fluid.
• The hair cells are mechanoreceptors that release a chemical
neurotransmitter when stimulated.
• The human ear can generally hear sounds with frequencies between
20 Hz and 20 kHz.
• Sounds outside this range are considered infrasound (below 20 Hz)
or ultrasound (above 20 kHz).
THE EAR AND BALANCE
• Providing balance, when moving or stationary, is also a central
function of the ear.
• The ear facilitates two types of balance: static balance, which allows a
person to feel the effects of gravity, and dynamic balance, which
allows a person to sense acceleration.
• Static balance is provided by two ventricles, the utricle and the
saccule.
• Cells lining the walls of these ventricles contain fine filaments, and the
cells are covered with a fine gelatinous layer.
• Each cell has 50–70 small filaments, and one large filament,
the kinocilium.
• Within the gelatinous layer lie otoliths, tiny formations of calcium
carbonate.
• When a person moves, these otoliths shift position.
• This shift alters the positions of the filaments, which opens ion
channels within the cell membranes, creating depolarisation and
an action potential that is transmitted to the brain along
the vestibulocochlear nerve.
• Dynamic balance is provided through the three semi-circular canals.
• These three canals are orthogonal (at right angles) to each other.
• At the end of each canal is a slight enlargement, known as the ampulla,
which contains numerous cells with filaments in a central area called
the cupula.
• The fluid in these canals rotates according to the momentum of the head.
When a person changes acceleration, the inertia of the fluid changes.
• This affects the pressure on the cupula, and results in the opening of ion
channels. This causes depolarisation, which is passed as a signal to the
brain along the vestibulocochlear nerve.
• Dynamic balance also helps maintain eye tracking when moving, via
the vestibulo–ocular reflex.
 COMMON DEFECTS OF THE EAR
• Deafness, or the inability to hear, is one of the most common disorders of the
ear. Deafness may be temporary or permanent.
• It can be caused in many ways. If the eardrum is damaged, by a blow or by a very
loud noise, deafness will result. This may be temporary or, if the eardrum fails to
heal, it can be permanent.
• If the tiny bones of the middle ear become damaged or fused by infection, or
crumble away with age or disease, you will be permanently deaf.
• Damage to the auditory nerve is another cause of deafness, and once the nerve
is damaged it cannot be restored.
• Hearing loss can also be the result of infection, when the middle ear becomes
full of thick infected mucus. This type of hearing loss can be reversed if the
infection is cleared with antibiotics. However, if the infection lasts too long,
permanent hearing loss may result.