Ear: External Ear Flashcards
Parts
- Auricle
- External auditory meatus
- Tympanic membrane (ear drum)
Auricle
- Single yellow elastic cartilage covered with skin
- Lower part (lobule) formed of fibrofatty tissue
External auditory meatus: shape
S shaped tube (24 mm long)
External auditory meatus: extent
Extending from auricle to the tympanic membrane
External auditory meatus: parts
- Lateral 1/3 cartilaginous
- Medial 2/3 bony
With a constriction between the 2 parts
External auditory meatus: isthmus
Narrowest site lying about 5mm from tympanic membrane
External auditory meatus: nerve supply
- Auriculotemporal nerve
- Auricular branch of vagus
External auditory meatus: function
- Sound collection
- Tympanic membrane protection
Tympanic membrane
Oval, thin, and semi translucent membrane stretched obliquely at external auditory meatus medial end
Tympanic membrane: parts
2 parts
1. Pars tensa (major part)
2. Pars flaccida (small triangular part)
Tympanic membrane: surfaces
- Outer
- Inner
Tympanic membrane: outer surface
Concave, shows triangular cone of light in its anteroinferior part
Tympanic membrane: inner surface
Convex, point of maximum convexity is called umbo
Tympanic membrane: layers (3)
- Outer (skin)
- Intermediate (fibrous): absent in pars flaccida
- Inner (middle ear mucosa)
Nerve supply
Outer surface:
1. Auriculotemporal nerve
2. Auricular branch vagus nerve
Inner surface:
1. Tympanic plexus of nerves (mainly from Glossopharyngeal nerve)