Blank labelsNames
Outer ear
Middle ear
Inner ear
Names always come with their labels. Keep the labels blank to test yourself.
One at a time:
There are two ways to sort hearing loss. The broad way has 2 types: conductive and sensorineural. The more specific way has 3 types: it splits sensorineural into sensory and neural.
What each part does
Outer ear (external ear)
- Auricle / Pinna
- The part of the ear on the outside of the head. Sound waves enter here.
- Ear canal
- The tube that carries sound waves to the tympanic membrane (eardrum).
- Tympanic membrane (eardrum)
- Divides the outer ear from the middle ear. It vibrates when sound waves hit it and passes the vibrations to the ossicles.
- Skull
- The bone of the head. The middle ear and inner ear sit inside it.
Middle ear (tympanic cavity)
- Ossicles
- Three small connected bones: the malleus (hammer), the incus (anvil) and the stapes (stirrup). They amplify the vibrations from the tympanic membrane (eardrum) and send them to the cochlea.
- Eustachian tube
- Links the middle ear with the back of the nose. It helps equalize the pressure in the middle ear.
Inner ear (labyrinth)
- Cochlea
- The hearing organ. It is shaped like a snail and filled with fluid. Hair cells inside it turn vibrations into electrical signals.
- Stereocilia
- Tiny hair-like tips on the hair cells in the cochlea. When they bend, an electrical signal is made. They are too small to see in the picture.
- Vestibular apparatus
- Holds the receptors for balance.
- Vestibulocochlear nerve (cranial nerve VIII)
- Carries the electrical signals from the inner ear to the brain.
Sources: How Do We Hear? (NIDCD), Anatomy and Physiology of the Ear (Stanford Medicine Children's Health), Ear (Cleveland Clinic). Ready to test yourself? Try Label the ear or Questions.