Library · Anatomy
Eardrum
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The eardrum, whose technical name is the tympanic membrane, is the wall that separates the external auditory canal, the tunnel that runs inward from the ear, from the cavity of the middle ear. It is the part through which sound energy enters the ear.
Most of the membrane is the pars tensa, a fibrous, taut area. It is the part that vibrates when a wave reaches it and the part that passes that vibration to the malleus, the first of the ossicles, which is attached to its inner surface. It is a drumhead: it transmits the impact only while it stays taut.
At the top there is a different part, smaller and slacker, the pars flaccida. Because it has less fibrous support, it is the first to move when pressure changes.
Seen edge on, the eardrum has three layers: skin on the outside, a fibrous one in the middle that gives it its tension, and a mucosa on the inside.
In brief
The tympanic membrane separates the external auditory canal from the middle ear and carries sound energy inward.
Most of it is the pars tensa, fibrous and taut, which vibrates with the waves and passes that energy to the malleus.
A drumhead: it transmits the strike only while it stays taut.
The pars flaccida, small and slack, sits at the top and, with less fibrous support, responds sooner to pressure changes.
It has three layers: skin on the outside, fibrous in the middle, mucosa on the inside.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingAnatomy, Head and Neck: Middle Ear, StatPearlsPublished
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