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Ringing in the Ears
Tinnitus: The annoying whistling and buzzing does not originate in the ear, but in the brain.
28.10.2025
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Glossary
15.03.2017
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From Sound to Interpretation
How the ear processes fluctuations in air pressure into meaningful information.
03.10.2025
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Full Blast to the Ears
Noise not only makes you ill, it also damages your brain.
18.11.2025
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Graphics & photos
10.03.2017
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- Glossary
Basilar membrane
The basilar membrane runs through the cochlea for a length of approximately 34 mm. It is stretched like the string of a violin, narrow and stiff at the base and wider and more flexible at the apex. Incoming sound frequencies cause it to vibrate. This movement is picked up by the hair cells in the organ of Corti and converted into nerve impulses.
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Corti’s organ
The organ of Corti is part of the cochlea (hearing organ) in the inner ear. Here, sound waves are picked up by hair cells and converted into nerve impulses.
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- Glossary
Ossicles
The three bones located in the middle ear – the stapes, malleus, and incus – are known as the ossicles. These are the smallest bones in the human body. They mechanically transmit sound waves from the eardrum to the cochlea.
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- Glossary
Hammer
The first of the small ossicles in the middle ear. It is connected to the eardrum and transmits the vibrations caused by sound waves via the other two ossicles (incus, stapes) to the cochlea, where the stimulus is converted into a neural signal.
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- Glossary
Auditory nerve
The hair cells of the organ of Corti stimulate neurons in the spiral ganglion, which is located in the cavity of the cochlea. Their axons form the auditory nerve, which transmits electrical impulses from the inner ear to the brain. Together with the vestibular nerve (nervus vestibularis), the auditory nerve forms the VIII cranial nerve.
