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In vertebrates, an ear is the organ that enables hearing and (in mammals) body balance using the vestibular system. In humans, the ear is described as having three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists of the auricle and the ear canal.
The middle ear is the portion of the ear medial to the eardrum, and distal to the oval window of the cochlea (of the inner ear).. The mammalian middle ear contains three ossicles (malleus, incus, and stapes), which transfer the vibrations of the eardrum into waves in the fluid and membranes of the inner ear.
The evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles was an evolutionary process that resulted in the formation of the mammalian middle ear, where the three middle ear bones or ossicles, namely the incus, malleus and stapes (a.k.a. "the anvil, hammer, and stirrup"), are a defining characteristic of mammals.
Schematic diagram of the human ear [clarification needed] The outer ear includes the pinna, the visible part of the ear, as well as the ear canal, which terminates at the eardrum, also called the tympanic membrane. The pinna serves to focus sound waves through the ear canal toward the eardrum.
The inner ear (internal ear, auris interna) is the innermost part of the vertebrate ear. In vertebrates, the inner ear is mainly responsible for sound detection and balance. [1] In mammals, it consists of the bony labyrinth, a hollow cavity in the temporal bone of the skull with a system of passages comprising two main functional parts: [2]
The extrinsic auricular muscles are the three muscles surrounding the auricula or outer ear: anterior auricular muscle; superior auricular muscle; posterior auricular muscle; The superior muscle is the largest of the three, followed by the posterior and the anterior. In some mammals these muscles can adjust the direction of the pinna.
Together with the cochlea, a part of the auditory system, it constitutes the labyrinth of the inner ear in most mammals. As movements consist of rotations and translations, the vestibular system comprises two components: the semicircular canals, which indicate rotational movements; and the otoliths, which indicate linear accelerations.
The ossicles (also called auditory ossicles) are three irregular bones in the middle ear of humans and other mammals, and are among the smallest bones in the human body. . Although the term "ossicle" literally means "tiny bone" (from Latin ossiculum) and may refer to any small bone throughout the body, it typically refers specifically to the malleus, incus and stapes ("hammer, anvil, and ...