Question: How your ear is connected to your brain?

Ans: There is a cranial nerve called the vestibulocochlearnerve which connects your inner
ear to your brain stem.

Related answers: What connects the ear to the brain?

The ear is connected to the central nervous system by the eighth cranial nerve (Vestibulocochlear nerve). There are two points at which this nerve joins the ear: the Vestibular nuclei and the...

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What is nerve that connects ear to brain?

pertain quack

What the does brain stem connect the brain to?

The brain stem connects the brain to the spinal column.

What connects the two halves of the brain?

they connect by corpus callosum.

What does the brain stem connect the brain to?

The brain stem connects the brain to the spinal cord, so that the brain can send messages through the cord to the rest of the body. The functioning of the body is severely compromised if the spinal...

From website:http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1t2eTAk2J0MJ:svconlin e.com/mag/avinstall_eye_ear_brain/+veins+of+ears+to+brain&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk &gl=in&source=www.google.co.in PART 2: THE EAR AND THE BRAIN
To understand how clients will respond to sound systems, and to help protect your hearing, consider the intricate and surprising auditory pathways. COMPARE FOR A MOMENT THE EYE and the ear. There is no question that the eye is more sensitive to the human environment. The dark-adapted eye needs only 0.5 attojoules of energy at its retina to perceive light. The ear needs about 100 joules of energy 20 orders of magnitude more at the eardrum to perceive a sound. The dynamic range of the two sensory organs is also dramatically different, but the ear is much more versatile. The range from the threshold of perception to the threshold of damage is about 90 dB in the case of the eye. That's an amazing dynamic range by any estimation. The dynamic range of hearing in an audiologically normal person is five orders of magnitude greater: 140 dB. Consider also the frequency response of seeing and hearing. This is the range of frequencies over which the sensory organ operates. The eye can sense light ranging in frequency from infrared (460 THz that's 460 terahertz or 460 trillion hertz) to ultraviolet (750 THz). This is a range of about 0.7 octaves. The ear of a young person of moderate tastes, on the other hand, can hear sounds from around 20 Hz to 20 kHz, 10 octaves. Both the eye and the ear are connected to the brain, and the sensory mechanisms of both interact in intimate and complex ways with it. We derive more information about the world than the sensory organs alone can provide. Consider this analogy from Albert Bregman: Imagine that you are on the edge of a lake and a friend challenges you to play a game. The game is this: Your friend digs two narrow channels up from the side of the lake. Each is a few feet long and a few inches wide and they are spaced a few feet apart. Halfway up each one, your friend stretches a handkerchief and fastens it to the sides of the channel. As waves reach the side of the lake they travel up the channels and cause the two handkerchiefs to go into motion. You are allowed to look at only the handkerchiefs and from their motions to answer a series of questions: How many boats are there on the lake, and where are they? Which is the most powerful one? Which one is closer? Is the wind blowing? Has any large object been dropped suddenly into the lake? (Bregman, 5-6) You can see that the sense of hearing is only a tiny fraction of the process of audition, which permits us to form an understanding of the world around us. To understand the amount of brain processing required for audition (as distinct from vision) think of the sophisticated computer power needed by submarines for sonar, compared to the simplicity of technical equipment for interpreting stereoscopic aerial reconnaissance photographs.

GROSS ANATOMY OF THE EAR

The ear itself is divided into three sections: the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear (see Figure 1). The outer ear is activated by vibrations in the air and funnels these vibrations into the head. The outer ear protects the much more delicate interior mechanisms. It also amplifies vibrations, like a megaphone in reverse. Finally, the outer ear permits us to identify the directions from which sounds arrive, a function called localization. The middle ear is located within a hollow space in the skull, at the side of the head. It works by mechanical vibration of bony, muscular and sinewy structures. It serves the function of impedance matching by means of leverage and mechanical advantage. One end of a bony linkage is connected to a receiver with an effective moving area of 55 square mm; the other end of the linkage is connected to an actuator of area 3.2 square mm. Ignoring losses within the linkage, this means an increase of displacement of 17 times for the same energy. The middle ear also equalizes static pressure on both sides of sealed membranes. The inner ear is an incredibly complex helical structure formed within the skull wall. It operates mechanically (driven by the middle ear), hydrodynamically (by vibrations through fluid-filled chambers), and electrochemically (by the trading of ions between two separately charged fluids). It functions as a transducer, converting vibrations to the spiky firing of nerve cells. It also serves as a wave analyzer, beginning the job of pitch perception, but leaving its remainder to the brain. Beyond the ear we find the nervous system. The ear is connected to the auditory cortex by means of the eighth cranial nerve.

THE OUTER EAR

The outer ear includes a flap of skin and cartilage at each side of the head. It is the only visible part of the ear. The whole exterior structure is called the pinna, or the auricle. These are as unique and individual as human faces, although we seem somehow wired in our brains to remember and identify faces rather than ears. The parts of the pinna include the helix, a rounded curved ridge around the circumference of the pinna. At the bottom of the helix is the lobe. This is a body-part name most people know; it is where earrings go. Within the dish of the helix is a fold called the anti-helix. A cavity between the top of the helix and the anti-helix is called the triangular fossa. The bowl from which the ear canal departs is the concha. Below the opening of the ear canal, the concha is partially shadowed by the tragus and the anti-tragus; between the two is a slot, the inter -tragal notch. All the asymmetries of the pinna assist directional hearing, both horizontally and vertically. See Figure 2.

The Ear Canal

At the back of the concha begins the ear canal, which runs through the temporal bone of the skull. This is also called the auditory canal, the auditory meatus, and, simply enough, the earhole. Within the ear canal there is deposited earwax, also called, unappetizingly, cerumen. At the rear of the ear canal is the eardrum, or tympanic membrane. This is a circular plate of fibers, both radial and circumferential, attached to the skull at the outer edges, and just conical enough to be slightly concave from the ear canal. The eardrum is quite fragile. If it is ruptured it can heal quickly, but each time with a scar stiffer than the rest of the structure. After enough ruptures, the eardrum becomes stiff enough to affect hearing acuity. The instrument used for inspecting the ear canal is called the otoscope, invented by Thomas Brunton.

THE MIDDLE EAR

The back of the eardrum faces into the middle ear (see Figure 3). This is a hollow chamber in the skull a bit larger than 100 mm3. This chamber is connected to the top of the throat by means of the eustachian tube. This airway permits static air pressure to be equalized on both sides of the eardrum. It can become clogged and also can provide a route of infection to the middle ear. At the back of the eardrum is the malleus, or hammer. Its longer protrusion, called the manubrium, is connected to the inside of the eardrum, so that when the eardrum moves the hammer is set into a rocking motion. The hammer has another protrusion, called its anterior process,

which is connected to the tensor tympanum muscle. The tensor tympanum, as its name would suggest, applies a slight tension to the rear of the eardrum, pulling it into a convex shape. The upper end of the hammer lies next to the incus, or anvil. The two bones are held loosely together by sinews at the malleoincudal joint, also called the incudomalleolar articulation. When the eardrum flexes inward, the manubrium moves with it, and the hammer rotates. The head of the hammer pushes the anvil into rotation. There is a long protrusion from the anvil, called the long crus, and at its end is a flexible joint, an articulation between the anvil and the stapes, or stirrup bone. Because the long crus is about 30% longer than the manubrium, there's a leverage action: A short movement of the manubrium makes a longer movement of the long crus. When the eardrum flexes outward, however, toward a rarefaction wave in air, the incudomalleolar articulation separates slightly, because of flexibility in the tendons that hold them together. This means the hammer and the anvil actually separate during the negative part of each sound-pressure wave in air. They are rigidly attached during compression waves. From this point on, the human hearing mechanism is asymmetrical, responding differently to compression and to rarefaction parts of the wave. This mechanism explains the wellknown subjective difference between perception of compression waves (gunshots) and rarefaction waves (the bursting of light bulbs). In reproduced audio this justifies the maintenance of absolute polarity throughout the system. The stirrup is shaped as a wishbone with a plate across the two tips. This is called the footplate. It covers the oval window, an opening to the innermost part of the ear, and transmits the mechanical vibrations of the ossicles to the fluids of the inner ear. The flexible joint between the anvil and the stirrup has attached to it a muscle called the stapedius, which acts as a fuse to shut off the ear in the case of too -loud sounds. The stapedius actually pulls the stirrup away from the tip of the anvil, separating them. It takes about 170 ms to operate, meaning that it does not act fast enough to provide perfect protection. With the stapedius fully contracted, there is about 20 dB of loss between the anvil and the stirrup, which is called a temporary loudness shift. The stapedius muscle will relax, restoring hearing, within minutes or hours.

THE INNER EAR

The oval window is an opening in the bony wall between the middle ear and the inner ear. It is covered by a flexible membrane, and on its outside rests the footplate of the stirrup. As the stirrup moves in and out, driven by the eardrum through the hammer and the anvil, it communicates a vibration to this membrane, behind which is a gelatinous, serous fluid called the endolymph. The endolymph is similar to the fluid inside all human cells. As the endolymph is compressed, it needs a pressure release, and that is provided by the round window, or fenestra rotunda. The round window is another opening between the middle and inner ear, also covered by a flexible membrane. When the stirrup pushes the endolymph in, the round window bulges back out. Sound has now become a flow of fluids. The inner ear consists of communicating sacs and ducts called the membranous labyrinth. These are protected from the surfaces of the skull (the bony osseous labyrinth) by being suspended in a form of spinal fluid called perilymph. The major parts of the inner ear are the vestibule (to which the oval window and the round window open), the semicircular canals, and the cochlea (see Figure 4). The semicircular canals are three curved tubes at right angles to each other, so that each tube curves through one perpendicular plane of threedimensional space. These are used to sense the orientation of the head. They are filled with endolymph but also include otolith, or ear sand. Otolith consists of crystals of calcium carbonate. As the head moves, the otolith drifts across sensing cells, much like the fluid in a carpenter's bubble level. This mechanism is the basis of the sense of equilibrium and balance. At the other end of the vestibule is the cochlea, a helically coiled tube spiraling approximately twice around a bony structure called the modiolus. Three chambers run along its length. A very thin shelf of bone, appropriately called the bony shelf, runs along its length, dividing it almost into halves. From the tip of the bony shelf there spring two flexible membranes, Reissner's membrane and the basilar membrane, forming the arms of a Y. Between the arms of the Y runs the cochlear duct, or scala media. Inside the cochlear duct is found the organ of Corti, part of the peripheral nervous system, and the point where nerves actually sense vibrations of the fluids. Beyond Reissner's membrane, a very thin and flexible sheet, lies the scalavestibuli, which is driven directly by the oval window and the stirrup. It is here that vibration is actually introduced to the cochlea. Beyond the basilar membrane, a stiffer and stronger membrane, is the scala tympani, to which the round window connects. The scalavestibuli and the scala tympani are connected at the apex of the cochlea through the helicotrema, a hole between the two canals. When the footplate of the stirrup presses on the oval window,

a compression of the perilymph is transmitted up the scalavestibuli, through the helicotrema, and back down the scala tympani.

THE NEURAL SYSTEM OF THE EAR

The essence of the mystery of the ear is found in the cochlear duct (see Figure 5). This much smaller canal is filled with endolymph, which is much thicker than the perilymph in the other canals. On the inside of the basilar membrane, facing into the cochlear duct, are the hair cells, or cilia. These are nerve cells that move in response to fluid flow. On the outside of the basilar membrane, facing the scala tympani, are the origins of the auditory nerve, called Corti's ganglion. In effect, these are the very fingertips of the auditory nerve. The hair cells are organized into cones, formed rather like the stakes of a teepee, all touching and with a slight twist. They are stimulated by shear forces as vibrations travel through the fluids; they actually tilt back and forth and rub against each other. In effect, they are capacitor plates wi th a charge across them, a charge they modulate by their motion. One end of the hair cell touches the perilymph on the other side of the basilar membrane, while the other floats in the endolymph in the cochlear duct. Perilymph has a higher concentration of sodium ions and a lower concentration of potassium ions than does the endolymph. For this reason the resting hair cell has a DC electric potential of about -60 mV. When the bundle of hair cells is deformed in one direction, its electric charge becomes about -40 mV. When deformed in the other direction, it has an electric potential of about -65 mV. These changes in electric potential are communicated to Corti's ganglion below the basilar membrane, but not as an analog fluctuation. The nerve cells fire, or transmit electrical spikes, at their ends (the synapses), and these spikes arrive eventually at the brain. The auditory regions in the brain are in the temporal lobes, immediately above the middle and inner ear. However, the left ear is connected to the right temporal lobe while the right ear is connected to the left temporal lobe. The gray matter that processes sounds is in precisely that part of the brain that originates a sense of time, and thus it is often said that while we see objects in space we hear events in time. There's a misunderstanding floating around in audio that pitch perception is located in the basilar membrane. According to this notion, the organ of Corti would be an in-line filter bank, and the location of moving hair cells allows discrimination between one frequency and another. That's not quite so. Every motion of the eardrum sets every hair in the inner ear into motion; every hair cell fires more or less all the time. Clearly, position on the basilar membrane is connected somehow to pitch perception, but the connection is complex and actually takes place in the brain, not in the inner ear. The temporal lobes of the brain are, in effect, listening to all those hair cells at once, and only then deciding what pitch was heard.

THE MYSTERY OF HEARING

A brief description of the workings of the ear can make them sound simple and straightforward. But in fact, the more we learn of hearing, the deeper a mystery it becomes. For example, it was recently demonstrated (after being disputed for some years) that the ear emits sounds. When someone hears a ringing in the ears (after taking aspirin, for example) that same ringing can be measured and recorded in the ear canal. It is even audible to others. If you hold your ear to someone else's, and if the room is very quiet, you can hear the reported ringing from the other person's ear. This mystery is called cochlear amplification, and no one knows what causes it or how it works. While the auditory pathways are still not fully understood, we know enough to comprehend that the gift of hearing is instilled with magic and wonder.

Outer Mode of operation Function air vibration

Middle mechanical vibration

Inner mechanical, hydrodynamic, electrochemical transduction wave analysis

Nervous System electrochemical

protect, amplify, match impedance, localize equalize pressure

process information

Ted Uzzle is director of instructional development at NSCA and editor emeritus of S&VC.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bregman, Albert S. Audit y S ene An lysis.

I Press,

Von B sy, Georg, translated by E. G. reprinted 8 .

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Ear
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Ear (disambiguation).

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The ear is the anatomical organ that detects sound. It not only acts as a receiver for sound, but also plays a major role in the sense ofbalance and body position. The ear is part of the auditory system. The word "ear" may be used correctly to describe the entire organ or just the visible portion. In most mammals, the visible ear is a flap of tissue that is also called the pinna and is the first of many steps in hearing. In people, the pinna is often called the auricle. Vertebrateshave a pair of ears, placed symmetrically on opposite sides of the head. This arrangement aids in the ability to localize sound sources.
Contents
[hi ]

1I t

u ti

t ear and h aring

2 Mammalian ear

2.1 Outer ear ( inna, ear canal, surface of ear drum)

 o

2.1.1 Human outer ear and culture

2.2 Middle ear

2.3 Inner ear: cochlea, vestibule, and semicircular canals

3 Damage to the human ear

3.1 Outer ear trauma

  o o

3.1.1 Auricle 3.1.2 Ear canal

3.2 Middle ear trauma 3.3 Inner ear trauma

4 Vestigial structures 5 Invertebrate hearing organs 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit]Introduction

to ears and hearing

Audition is the scientific name for the sense of sound. Sound is a form of energy that moves through air, water, and other matter, in waves of pressure. Sound is the means of auditory communication, including frog calls, bird songs and spoken language. Although the ear is the vertebrate sense organ that recognizes sound, it is the brain and central nervous system that "hears". Sound waves are perceived by the brain through the firing of nerve cells in the auditory portion of the central nervous system. The ear changes sound pressure waves from the outside world into a signal of nerve impulses sent to the brain.

Anatomy of the human ear. The length of the auditory canal is exaggerated for viewing purposes.

The outer part of the ear collects sound. That sound pressure is amplified through the middle portion of the ear and, in land animals, passed from the medium of air into a liquid medium. The change from air to liquid occurs because air surrounds the head and is contained in the ear canal and middle ear, but not in the inner ear. The inner ear is hollow, embedded in the temporal bone, the densest bone of the body. The hollow channels of the inner ear are filled with liquid, and contain a sensory epitheliumthat 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. Sound waves moving through fluid push the filaments; if the filaments bend over enough it causes the hair cells to fire. In this way sound waves are transformed into nerve impulses. In vision, the rods and cones of the retina play a similar role with light as the hair cells do with sound. The nerve impulses travel from the left and right ears through the eighth cranial nerve to both sides of the brain stem and up to the portion of the cerebral cortex dedicated to sound. This auditory part of the cerebral cortex is in the temporal lobe. The part of the ear that is dedicated to sensing balance and position also sends impulses through the eighth cranial nerve, the VIIIth nerve's Vestibular Portion. Those impulses are sent to the vestibular portion of the central nervous system. The human ear can generally hear sounds with frequencies between 20 Hz and 20 kHz (the audio range). Although the sensation of hearing requires an intact and functioning auditory portion of the central nervous system as well as a working ear, human deafness (extreme insensitivity to sound) most commonly occurs because of abnormalities of the inner ear, rather than the nerves or tracts of the central auditory system. [1]

[edit]Mammalian

ear

Bat pinnae come in different sizes and shapes

The shape of outer ear of mammals varies widely across species. However the inner workings of mammalian ears (including humans') are very similar.

[edit]Outer

ear (pinna, ear canal, surface of ear drum)

Main article: Outer ear The outer ear is the most external portion of the ear. The outer ear includes the pinna (also called auricle), the ear canal, and the very most superficial layer of the ear drum (also called the tympanic membrane). In humans, and almost all vertebrates, the only visible portion of the ear is the outer ear. The word "ear" may properly refer to the pinna (the flesh covered cartilage appendage on either side of the head). This portion of the ear is very vital for hearing. The outer ear does help get sound (and imposes filtering), but the ear canal is very important. Unless the canal is open, hearing will be dampened. Ear wax ( cerumen) is produced by glands in the skin of the outer portion of the ear canal. This outer ear canal skin is applied to cartilage; the thinner skin of the deep canal lies on the bone of the skull. Only the thicker cerumen -producing ear canal skin has hairs. The outer ear ends at the most superficial layer of the tympanic membrane. The tympanic m embrane is commonly called the ear drum. The pinna helps direct sound through the ear canal to the tympanic membrane ( eardrum). The framework of the auricle consists of a single piece of yello w fibrocartilage with a complicated relief on the anterior, concave side and a fairly smooth configuration on the posterior, convex side. The Darwinian tubercle, which is present in some people, lies in the descending part of the helix and corresponds to the true ear tip of the long-eared mammals. The lobule merely contains subcutaneous tissue. [2] In some animals with mobile pinnae (like the horse), each pinna can be aimed independently to better receive the sound. For these animals, the pinnae help localize the direction of the sound source. Human beings localize sound within the central nervous system, by comparing arrival-time differences and loudness from each ear, in brain circuits that are connected to both ears. This process is commonly referred to as EPS, or Echo Positioning System.

[edit]Human outer ear and culture

Stretching of the earlobe and various cartilage piercings

The auricles also have an effect on facial appearance. In Western societies, protruding ears (present in about 5% of ethnic Europeans) have been considered unattractive, particularly if asymmetric. The first surgery to reduce the projection of prominent ears was published in the medical literature in 1881. The ears have also been ornamented with jewelry for thousands of years, traditionally by piercing of the earlobe. In some cultures, ornaments are placed to stretch and enlarge the earlobes. Tearing of the earlobe from the weight of heavy earrings, or from traumatic pull of an earring (for example by snagging on a sweater being removed), is fairly common. [3] The repair of such a tear is usually not difficult.

A cosmetic surgical procedure to reduce the size or change the shape of the ear is called an otoplasty. In the rare cases when no pinna is formed (atresia), or is extremely small (microtia) reconstruction of the auricle is possible. Most often, a cartilage graft from another part of the body (generally, rib cartilage) is used to form the matrix of the ear, and skin grafts or rotation flaps are used to provide the covering skin. Recently ears have been grown on a rat's back and attached to human heads after. However, when babies are born without an auricle on one or both sides, or when the auricle is very tiny, the ear canal is ordinarily either small or absent, and the middle ear often has deformities. The ini tial medical intervention is aimed at assessing the baby's hearing and the condition of the ear canal, as well as the middle and inner ear. Depending on the results of tests, reconstruction of the outer ear is done in stages, with planning for any possible repairs of the rest of the ear.[4][5][6]

[edit]Middle

ear

Main article: Middle ear The middle ear, an air-filled cavity behind the ear drum (tympanic membrane), includes the three ear bones or ossicles: the malleus (or hammer), incus (or anvil), and stapes (or stirrup). Th e opening of the Eustachian tube is also within the middle ear. The malleus has a long process (the manubrium, or handle) that is attached to the mobile portion of the eardrum. The incus is the bridge between the malleus and stapes. The stapes is the smallest named bone in the human body. The three bones are arranged so that movement of the tympanic membrane causes movement of the malleus, which causes movement of the incus, whi ch causes movement of the stapes. When the stapes footplate pushes on the oval window, it causes movement of fluid within the cochlea (a portion of the inner ear). In humans and other land animals the middle ear (like the ear canal) is normally filled with air. Unlike the open ear canal, however, the air of the middle ear is not in direct contact with the atmosphere outside the body. The Eustachian tube connects from the chamber of the middle ear to the back of the nasopharynx. The middle ear is very much like a specializedparanasal sinus, called the tympanic cavity; it, like the paranasal sinuses, is a hollow mucosa-lined cavity in the skull that is ventilated through the nose. The mastoid portion of the human temporal bone, which can be felt as a bump in the skull behind the pinna, also contains air, which is ventilated through the middle ear.
Mi

II

le Ear

Malleus Tensor Tympani Incus Stapedius Labyrinth Stapes Auditory Canal Tympanic Membrane (Ear Drum) Eustachian Tube Tympanic cavity Components of the middle ear

Normally, the Eustachian tube is collapsed, but it gapes open both with swallowing and with positive pressure. When taking off in an airplane, the surrounding air pressure goes from higher (on the ground) to lower (in the sky). The air in the middle ear expands as the plane gains altitude, and pushes its way into the back of the nose and mouth. On the way down, the volume of air in the middle ear shrinks, and a slight vacuum is produced. Active opening of the Eustachian tube is required to equalize the pressure between the middle ear and the surrounding atmosphere as the plane descends. The diver also experiences this change in pressure, but with greater rates of pressure change; active opening of the Eustachian tube is required more frequently as the diver goes deeper into higher pressure. The arrangement of the tympanic membrane and ossicles works to efficiently couple the sound from th e opening of the ear canal to the cochlea. There are several simple mechanisms that combine to increase the sound pressure. The first is the "hydraulic principle". The surface area of the tympanic membrane is many times that of the stapes footplate. Sound energy strikes the tympanic membrane and is concentrated to the smaller footplate. A second mechanism is the "lever principle". The dimensions of the articulating ear ossicles lead to an increase in the force applied to the stapes footplate compared with t hat applied to the malleus. A third mechanism channels the sound pressure to one end of the cochlea, and protects the other end from being struck by sound waves. In humans, this is called "round window protection", and will be more fully discussed in the next section.

Abnormalities such as impacted ear wax (occlusion of the external ear canal), fixed or missing ossicles, or holes in the tympanic membrane generally produce conductive hearing loss. Conductive hearing loss may also result from middle ear infla mmation causing fluid build-up in the normally air-filled space. Tympanoplasty is the general name of the operation to repair the middle ear's tympanic membrane and ossicles. Grafts from muscle fascia are ordinarily used to rebuild an intact ear drum. Some times artificial ear bones are placed to substitute for damaged ones, or a disrupted ossicular chain is rebuilt in order to conduct sound effectively.

[edit]Inner

ear: cochlea, vestibule, and semicircular canals

Inner Ear

Main article: Inner ear

Posterior Canal Superior Canal Utricle Horizontal Canal Vestibule Cochlea Saccule Components of the inner ear

The inner ear includes both the organ of hearing (the cochlea) and a sense organ that is attuned to the effects of both gravity and motion (labyrinth or vestibular apparatus). The balance portion of the inner ear consists of three semicircular canals and the vestibule. The inner ear is encased in the hardest bone of the body. Within this ivory hard bone, there are fluid-filled hollows. Within the cochlea are three fluid filled spaces: the scala tympani, the scalavestibuli and the scala media. The eighth cranial nerve comes from the brain stem to enter the inner ear. When sound strikes the ear drum, the movement is transferred to the footplate of the stapes, which presses it into one of its fluid -filled ducts through the oval window of cochlea . The fluid inside this duct is moved, flowing against the receptor cells of the Organ of Corti, which fire. These stimulate the spiral ganglion, which sends information through the auditory portion of the eighth cranial nerve to the brain.

Hair cells are also the receptor cells involved in balance, although the hair cells of the auditory and vestibular systems of the ear are not identical. Vestibu lar hair cells are stimulated by movement of fluid in the semicircular canals and the utricle and saccule. Firing of vestibular hair cells stimulates the Vestibular portion of the eighth cranial nerve.[7]

[edit]Damage [edit]Outer

to the human ear

ear trauma

[edit]Auricle
The auricle can be easily damaged. Because it is skin -covered cartilage, with only a thin padding of connective tissue, rough handling of the ear can cause enough swelling to jeopardize the blood -supply to its framework, the auricular cartilage. That entire cartilage framework is fed by a thin covering membrane called the perichondrium (meaning literally: around the cartilage). Any fluid from swelling or blood from injury that collects between the perichondrium and the underlying cartilage puts the cartilage in danger of being separated from its supply of nutrients. If portions of the cartilage starve and die, the ear never heals back into its normal shape. Instead, the cartilage becomes lumpy and distorted. Wrestler's Ear is one term used to describe the result, because wrestling is one of the most common ways such an injury occurs. Cauliflower ear is another name for the same condition, because the thickened auricle can resemble that vegetable. The lobule of the ear (ear lobe) is the one part of the human auricle that normally contains no cartilage. Instead, it is a wedge of adipose tissue (fat) covered by skin. There are many normal variations to the shape of the ear lobe, which may be small or large. Tears of the earlobe can be generally repaired with good results. Since there is no cartilage, there is not the risk of deformity from a blood clot or pressure injury to the ear lobe. Other injuries to the external ear occur fairly frequent ly, and can leave a major deformity. Some of the more common ones include, laceration from glass, knives, and bite injuries, avulsion injuries, cancer, frostbite, and burns.

[edit]Ear canal
Ear canal injuries can come from firecrackers and other explosives, and mechanical trauma from placement of foreign bodies into the ear. The ear canal is most often self -traumatized from efforts at ear cleaning. The outer part of the ear canal rests on the flesh of the head; the inner part rests in the opening of the bony skul l (called the external auditory meatus). The skin is very different on each part. The outer skin is thick, and contains glands as well as hair follicles. The glands make cerumen (also called ear wax). The skin of the outer part moves a bit if the pinna is pulled; it is only loosely applied to the underlying tissues. The skin of the bony canal, on the other hand, is not only among the most delicate skin in the human body, it is tig htly applied to the underlying bone. A slender object used to blindly clean cerumen out of the ear often results instead with the wax being pushed in, and contact with the thin skin of the bony canal is likely to lead to laceration and bleeding.

[edit]Middle

ear trauma

Like outer ear trauma, middle ear trauma most often comes from blast injuries and insertion of foreign objects into the ear. Skull fractures that go through the part of the skull containing the ear structures (the temporal

bone) can also cause damage to the middle ear. Small perforations of the tympanic membrane usually heal on their own, but large perforations may require grafting. Displacement of the ossicles will cause a conductive hearing loss that can only be corrected with surgery. Forcible displaceme nt of the stapes into the inner ear can cause a sensory neural hearing loss that cannot be corrected even if the ossicles are put back into proper position. Because human skin has a top waterproof layer of dead skin cells that are constantly shedding, displacement of portions of the tympanic membrane or ear canal into the middle ear or deeper areas by trauma can be particularly traumatic. If the displaced skin lives within a closed area, the shed surface builds up over months and years and forms a cholesteatoma. The -oma ending of that word indicates a tumour in medical terminology, and although cholesteatoma is not a neoplasm (but a skin cyst), it can expand and erode the ear structures. The treatment for cholesteatoma is surgical.

[edit]Inner

ear trauma

There are two principal damage mechanisms to the inner ear in industrialized society, and both injure hair cells. The first is exposure to elevated sound levels (noise trauma), and the second is exposure to drugs and other substances (ototoxicity). In 1972 the U.S. EPA told Congress that at least 34 million people were exposed to sound levels on a daily basis that are likely to lead to significant hearing loss.[8] The worldwide implication for industrialized countries would place this exposed population in the hundreds of millions. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has recently published research on the estimated numbers of persons with hearing difficulty (11%) and the percentage that can be attributed to occupational noise exposure (24%). [9] Furthermore, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), approximately twenty -two million (17%) US workers reported exposure to hazardous workplace noise. [10] Workers exposed to hazardous noise further exacerbate the potential for developing noise induced hearing loss when they do not wear ( hearing protection).

[edit]Vestigial

structures

This section requires expansion.

Comparative anatomy of primate ears: Human (left) and Barbary Macaque (right).

Human ear (from Descent of Man)

It has long been known that humans, and indeed primates such as the orangutan and chimpanzee have ear muscles that are minimally developed and non-functional, yet still large enough to be easily identifiable. [11] These undeveloped muscles are vestigial structures. A muscle that cannot move the ear, for whatever reason, can no longer be said to have any biological function. This serves as evidence ofhomology between related species. In humans there is variability in these muscles, such that some people are able to move their ears in various directions, and it has been said that it may be possible for others to gain such movement by repeated trials. [11] In such primates the inability to move the ear is compensated mainly by the ability to turn the head on a horizontal plane, an ability which is not common to most monkeys a function once provided by one structure is now replaced by another. [12] The outer structure of the ear also shows some vesti gial features, such as the node or point on the helix of the ear known as Darwin's tubercle which is found in around 10% of the population, this feature is labelled (a) i n the accompanying figure.

[edit]Invertebrate

hearing organs

This section requires expansion.

Only vertebrate animals have ears, although many invertebrates are able to detect sound using other kinds of sense organs. In insects, tympanal organs are used to hear distant sounds. They are not confined to the head, but can occur in different locations depending on the group of insects. [13] The tympanal organs of some insects are extremely sensitive, offering acute hearing beyond that of most other animals. The female cricket fly Ormiaochracea has a tympanal organs on each side of her abdomen. They are connected by a thin bridge of exoskeleton and they function like a tiny pair of ear drums, but because they are linked, they provide acute directional information. The fly uses her " ears" to detect the call of her host, a male cricket. Depending on where the song of the cricket is coming from the fly's hearing organs will

reverberate at slightly different frequencies. This difference may be as little as 50 billionths of a second, but it is enough to allow the fly to home in directly on a singing male cricket and parasitize it. [14] Simpler structures allow arthropods to detect near field sounds. Spiders and cockroaches, for example, have hairs on their legs which are used for detecting sound. Caterpillars may also have hairs on their body that perceive vibrations[15] and allow them to respond to the sound.

[edit]See

also

                    

WikiSaurus:ear the WikiSaurus list of synonyms and slang words for ears in many languages Absolute threshold of hearing Acoustic reflex Auditory brainstem response (ABR) test Cerumen (ear wax) Cholesteatoma Ear pick Ear piercing Ear piercing instrument Earring Georg von Bksy, winner of the 1961 Nobel Prize for his research on the cochlea Glossary of medical terms related to communications disorders Loudness Musical acoustics Noise health effects Otoplasty External Ear Surgery Pitch (music) Sound localization Timbre Tinnitus Vestibular system

[edit]References

1.

^ Greinwald, John H. Jr MD; Hartnick, Christopher J. MD The Evaluation of Children With Hearing Loss. Archives of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery. 128(1):84-87, January 2002

2.

^ Stenstrm, J. Sten: Deformities of the ear; In: Grabb, W., C., Smith, J. S. (Edited): Plastic Surgery, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1979, ISBN 0-316-32269-5 (C), ISBN 0-316-32268-7 (P)

3.

^ Deborah S. Sarnoff, Robert H. Gotkin, and Joan Swirsky (2002). Instant Beauty: Getting Gorgeous on Your Lunch Break. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 031228697X.

4.

^ Lam SM. Edward Talbot Ely: father of aesthetic otoplasty. [Biography. Historical Article. Journal Article] Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery. 6(1):64, 2004 Jan -Feb.

5.

^ Siegert R. Combined reconstruction of congenital auricular atresia and severe microtia. [Evaluation Studies. Journal Article] Laryngoscope. 113(11):2021-7; discussion 2028-9, 2003 Nov.

6.

^ Trigg DJ. Applebaum EL. Indications for the surgical repair of unilateral aural atresia in children. [Review] [33 refs] [Journal Article. Review], American Journal of Otology. 19(5):679 -84; discussion 684-6, 1998 September

7. 8.

^ Anson and Donaldson, Surgical Anatomy of the Temporal Bone, 4th Edition, Raven Press, 1992 ^ Senate Public Works Committee, Noise Pollution and Abatement Act of 1972, S. Rep. No. 1160, 92nd Cong. 2nd session.

9.

^ Tak SW, Calvert GM, "Hearing Difficulty Attributable to Employment by Industry and Occupation: An Analysis of the National Health Interview Survey - United States, 1997 to 2003," J. Occup. Env. Med. 2008, 50:46-56

10. ^ Tak SW, Davis RR, Calvert GM "Exposure to Hazardous Workplace Noise and Use of Hearing Protection Devices Among US WOrkers, 1999-2004," Am. J. Ind. Med. 2009, 52:358-371 11. ^
a b

Darwin, Charles (1871). The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex . John Murray:

London. 12. ^ Mr. St. George Mivart, Elementary Anatomy, 1873, p. 396. 13. ^ Yack, JE, and JH Fullard, 1993. What is an insect ear? Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 86(6): 677 -682. 14. ^ Piper, Ross (2007), Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals, Greenwood Press. 15. ^ Scoble, MJ. 1992. The Lepidoptera: Form, function, and diversity. Oxford University Press.

[edit]External

links

Look up ear in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ear

     

Protein behind hearing 3D Ear page Details of various ear problems Ear wiggling mechanism unmasked Cotton swabs can pose serious health risk: coroner from ctv.ca Radiology of the Ear Canal from MedPix
[show v d eHuman systems and organs [show v d eSensory system: Auditory and Vestibular systems (TA A15.3, TH 3 [show v d eHuman regional anatomy (TA A01.1)

Categories: Human anatomy | Ear | Sensory organs | Auditory system | Head and neck