Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 ...
The ossicles are the malleus (hammer), incus (anvil), and the stapes (stirrup). The stapes is the smallest named bone in the body. The middle ear also connects to the upper throat at the nasopharynx via the pharyngeal opening of the Eustachian tube. [3] [11] The three ossicles transmit sound from the outer ear to the inner ear.
Ossicles are small calcareous elements embedded in the dermis of the body wall of echinoderms. They form part of the endoskeleton and provide rigidity and protection. They are found in different forms and arrangements in sea urchins , starfish , brittle stars , sea cucumbers , and crinoids .
Similar to species with horns or antlers, male giraffes use their ossicones as weapons during combat, where they use their heads as clubs: the ossicones add weight and concentrate the force of impact onto a small area, allowing it to deliver heavier blows with higher contact pressure. [4]
While bone is essentially brittle, bone does have a significant degree of elasticity, contributed chiefly by collagen. Mechanically, bones also have a special role in hearing. The ossicles are three small bones in the middle ear which are involved in sound transduction.
The stapes is the third bone of the three ossicles in the middle ear and the smallest in the human body. It measures roughly 2 to 3 mm , greater along the head-base span. [ 1 ] It rests on the oval window , to which it is connected by an annular ligament and articulates with the incus , or anvil through the incudostapedial joint . [ 2 ]
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.
Some sources count a paired bone as one, or the maxilla as having two bones (as its parts); some sources include the hyoid bone or the three ossicles of the middle ear, the malleus, incus, and stapes, but the overall general consensus of the number of bones in the human skull is the stated twenty-two.