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Hearing and Equilibrium

Introduction

The topics that have been covered in the paper include anatomy of the ear, physiology of the ear, auditory pathway, physiology of equilibrium and equilibrium pathways.

Discussion

The ear consists of three parts which includes the outer ear, middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear with the flag and the ear closed by an elastic membrane (like a drum skin), middle ear containing the ossicles connecting the eardrum to the oval window and ensuring the transmission of vibrations of the eardrum (Green, pp. 100). It looks like a cavity extended forward by the Eustachian tube that leads into the pharynx, each swallowing it ensures the balance of pressure between the middle ear and the outside, a prerequisite for the mobility of the tympanic membrane: its obstruction by the adenoids in children may be the source of infections, and its interference on a cold reduces hearing. Behind the middle ear communicates with mastoid cells dug in the temporal bone, mastoiditis is their infection. The inner ear, of is of complex shape and enlarged. It includes a rigid cavity of complex shape, the bony labyrinth, in which floats a hollow body of flexible and comparable form: the membranous labyrinth. It contains two fluids, endolymph and perilymph. The endolymph occupies the internal cavity of the membranous labyrinth and the perilymph space that separates the bony labyrinth. Two membranes oppose the flow of perilymph into the middle ear: the oval window, already cited, and the round window (Parker, pp.10).

However, the maze consists of cochlea and vestibule. The vestibule contains two membranous rounded cavities, utricle and saccule and three semicircular canals located in three perpendicular planes plays a fundamental role in the balance. The semicircular canals occupy most of the inner ear. Each channel contains a liquid and connected to sensory ...