The ear has three major areas that should be known. The areas of the ear may sound the same, but they all have different jobs and different ways of helping the human body function and do its job. The three major areas throughout the ear are the following, the external, the middle ear and the internal ear. According to Elaine N. Marieb, The external and middle ear structures are what is involved with the hearing only. Also Marieb states that the internal ear is what has function in hearing and the equilibrium. The external, internal, and middle ear all play a role in hearing and whether they work together or not they all have some type of major role. Also each part of the ear has its own role on maintaining balance, but they all work together on balance. (Marieb, E. 2006) …show more content…
The outer ear is composed of two elements known as the pinna and the external acoustic meatus. What do these elements have to do with the ear you might ask? The pinna or auricle is actually what is called the ear. The auricle is a shell shape and it surrounds the auditory canal opening. The acoustic meatus in the external part is the auditory canal. This is actually a narrow chamber that goes through the temporal bone in the skull. In that narrow chamber is a skin-like lining which is known as the ceruminous glands. This gland produces the wax that people clean out of their ears. The earwax that is produced is known as cerumen and it acts as almost like a trap. Marieb states that it’s a sticky trap for foreign bodies and it repels insects away. The outer ear determines the direction on which the sound is coming from according to New York Head and Neck Institute. The chamber is sitting in your ear at a slightly slanted direction from the top to the bottom. (New York Head & Neck Institute, 2015) When sound is traveling down the slanted chamber it hits the tympanic membrane which then connects to your middle ear. The tympanic membrane is more commonly known as the eardrum. Moving on to the next area of the ear is the middle ear. This part of the ear is consists of the inside of the tympanic membrane. This cavity