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The middle ear plays a crucial role in the auditory process, as it essentially converts pressure variations in air to perturbations in the fluids of the inner ear. In other words, it is the mechanical transfer function that allows for efficient transfer of collected sound energy between two different media. [2] The three small bones that are ...
The purpose of the middle ear ossicles is to overcome the impedance mismatch between air waves and cochlear waves, by providing impedance matching. Also located in the middle ear are the stapedius muscle and tensor tympani muscle, which protect the hearing mechanism through a stiffening
The outer ear funnels sound vibrations to the eardrum, increasing the sound pressure in the middle frequency range. The middle-ear ossicles further amplify the vibration pressure roughly 20 times. The base of the stapes couples vibrations into the cochlea via the oval window , which vibrates the perilymph liquid (present throughout the inner ...
The evolutionary process leading to a three-ossicle middle ear was thus an "accidental" byproduct of the simultaneous evolution of the new, secondary jaw joint. In many mammals, the middle ear also becomes protected within a cavity, the auditory bulla, not found in other vertebrates. A bulla evolved late in time and independently numerous times ...
In the last two decades, significant advances occurred in our understanding of the neural processing of sounds in primates. Initially by recording of neural activity in the auditory cortices of monkeys [18] [19] and later elaborated via histological staining [20] [21] [22] and fMRI scanning studies, [23] 3 auditory fields were identified in the primary auditory cortex, and 9 associative ...
In reptiles, the columella function to transduce sound through the middle ear as part of the auditory pathway. The columella is relatively straight and moves in a piston-like motion in response to vibration. [3] Due to the rigid bony structure, the columella primarily responds to low-frequency vibrations transmitted through the ground. [2]
Facing the inner ear, the medial wall (or labyrinthic wall, labyrinthine wall) is vertical, and has the oval window and round window, the promontory, and the prominence of the facial canal. Facing the outer ear , the lateral wall (or membranous wall ), is formed mainly by the tympanic membrane , partly by the ring of bone into which this ...
Normal listeners can identify the words fairly well and show a small difference between the two ears with one ear slightly dominant over the other. For the majority of listeners, this small difference is referred to as a "right-ear advantage" because their right ear performs slightly better than their left ear.