Scientific Illustration

bioguru:

Pathway of Sound

The auricle of the ear serves to “capture” sound waves, which travel down the auditory canal and hit the tympanic membrane (ear drum), causing it to vibrate and send vibrations through the small bones of the middle ear: the malleus, incus, and the stapes. The stapes connects to the oval window, which is the “window” (duh) between the middle and inner ear. The vibrations pass through the oval window and into the perilymph of the boney labyrinth of the inner ear, and eventually to the cochlea. The cochlea is filled with endolymph and houses the Organ of Corti. The vibrations carried through the perilymph causes the endolymph within the Organ of Corti to begin vibrating. The tectorial membrane is disturbed by these vibrations and “tickles” the microvilli of the hair cells between the basiliar and the tectorial membranes. The microvilli bend in response, triggering an actional potential and an impulse that is carried by the cochlear nerve to the temporal cortex where, alas, the impulse is interpreted as sound!

(via fyeahanatomy)