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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 ]
Humans have two otolithic organs on each side, one called the utricle, the other called the saccule. The utricle contains a patch of hair cells and supporting cells called a macula. Similarly, the saccule contains a patch of hair cells and a macula. Each hair cell of a macula has forty to seventy stereocilia and one true cilium called a ...
The saccule (Latin: sacculus) is a bed of sensory cells in the inner ear that detects linear acceleration and head tilting in the vertical plane, and converts these vibrations into electrical impulses to be interpreted by the brain. When the head moves vertically, the sensory cells of the saccule are moved due to a combination of inertia and ...
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 ...
The membranous labyrinth is a collection of fluid filled tubes and chambers which contain the receptors for the senses of equilibrium and hearing. It is lodged within the bony labyrinth in the inner ear and has the same general form; it is, however, considerably smaller and is partly separated from the bony walls by a quantity of fluid, the perilymph.
The stapedius reflex of the middle ear muscles helps protect the inner ear from damage by reducing the transmission of sound energy when the stapedius muscle is activated in response to sound. The middle ear still contains the sound information in wave form; it is converted to nerve impulses in the cochlea.
Each semicircular canal (SSC) is a thin tube that doubles in thickness briefly at a point called osseous ampullae. At their center-base, each contains an ampullary cupula. The cupula is a gelatin bulb connected to the stereocilia of hair cells, affected by the relative movement of the endolymph it is bathed in.
The organ of Corti is located in the scala media of the cochlea of the inner ear between the vestibular duct and the tympanic duct and is composed of mechanosensory cells, known as hair cells. [2] Strategically positioned on the basilar membrane of the organ of Corti are three rows of outer hair cells (OHCs) and one row of inner hair cells ...