Ear

For alternative meanings, see ear (disambiguation).

An ear is an organ used by an animal to detect sound waves. The term may refer to the entire system responsible for collection and early processing of sound (the beginning of the auditory system), or merely the externally-visible part. Not all animals have ears in the same part of the body. Audation is the scientific name for the sence of hearing. The organ of Corti is the actual organ of hearing.

Contents 1 The mammalian ear 2 Non-mammalian hearing organs 3 See also 4 External links

The mammalian ear

Mammals, including humans, have two ears, one on each side of the head.

• The outer ear is the external portion of the ear and includes the eardrum.

• The middle ear includes the ossicles (three tiny bones), two muscle tendons (of the stapedius and tensor tympani muscles), and two nerve bundles (the horizontal portion of the facial nerve and a branch of the facial nerve called the chorda tympani).

• The inner ear comprises both the organ of hearing (the cochlea) and the labyrinth or vestibular apparatus, the organ of balance located in the inner ear that consists of three semicircular canals and the vestibule.

Non-mammalian hearing organs

Spiders have hairs on their legs which are used for detecting sound.

Reptilian ears only have one bone — the columella (stapes) (see below).

• Vestibular neuronitis

See also

• WikiSaurus:ear — the WikiSaurus list of synonyms and slang words for ears in many languages
• Absolute threshold of hearing
• Acoustic reflex
• Cerumen
• Ear piercing instrument
• Earring
• Georg von Békésy, winner of the 1961 Nobel Prize for his research on the cochlea
• Glossary of medical terms related to communications disorders
• Loudness
• Pitch (music)
• Timbre
• Vestibular system

External links

• Protein behind hearing
• 3D Ear page

Sensory system - Auditory system - edit

Outer ear: Pinna | Ear canal  Middle ear: Eardrum | Ossicles (Malleus, Incus & Stapes) | Stapedius | Tensor tympani | Eustachian tube Inner ear: Cochlea (Scala vestibuli, Scala media & Scala tympani) | Oval window | Helicotrema | Round window | Basilar membrane | Reissner's membrane | Organ of Corti | Hair cells | Stereocilia Brain: Cochlear nerve VIII → Cochlear nuclei → Superior olivary nuclei → Inferior colliculi → Medial geniculate nuclei → Primary auditory cortex

The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear under GFDL