Middle ear bones. Artwork of the auditory ossicles, the three smallest bones in the human body. They are shown as arranged in the middle ear (top) and

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Middle ear bones. Artwork of the auditory ossicles, the three smallest bones in the human body. They are shown as arranged in the middle ear (top) and separated (bottom). These bones conduct sound waves from the outer to the inner ear. At left is the malleus (hammer), which is connected to the eardrum, at centre is the incus (anvil) and at right is the stapes (stirrup). Vibrations from the eardrum are passed to the malleus and then the stapes via the incus. The stapes transmits the vibrations to the fluid-filled cochlear of the inner ear where the vibrations are converted to nerve impulses.

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Size: 3516px × 4461px
Photo credit: © BO VEISLAND/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: anatomical, anatomy, anvil, artwork, auditory, aural, biological, biology, body, bone, bones, ear, hammer, healthy, hearing, human, illustration, incus, malleus, middle, normal, ossicles, sense, smallest, stapes, stirrup, trio