Search
-
- Percipience
- Hearing
A Labyrinth for Balance
A sophisticated labyrinth in the ear keeps our body balanced: the vestibular system.
17.10.2025
-
- Glossary
Semicircular canals
The three semicircular canals per ear are interconnected, fluid-filled tubes that are positioned almost at right angles to each other and belong to the balance organ in the inner ear (vestibular apparatus). They serve to register angular accelerations, i.e., rotational movements of the head.
-
- Percipience
- Hearing
Balance: The vestibular Labyrinth
A labyrinth for balance: The vestibular system ensures equilibrium.
23.10.2025
-
- Glossary
ear
The ear is not only the organ of hearing, but also of balance. A distinction is made between the outer ear with the auricle and external auditory canal, the middle ear with the eardrum and ossicles, and the actual hearing and balance organ, the inner ear with the cochlea and semicircular canals.
-
- Glossary
Macular organs
Together with the semicircular canals, the macular organs form the vestibular system in the inner ear of vertebrates. They consist of two structures positioned perpendicular to each other, the saccule and the utricle. This alignment enables the macular organs to perceive linear accelerations of the body in space along all three spatial axes: up-down, front-back, left and right.
-
- Glossary
Hair cells
Sensory cells in the inner ear located in the organ of Corti and the semicircular canals. The hair cells in the organ of Corti are responsible for transducing (converting) the vibrations into electrical potentials. Each of these sensory cells has hair-like protrusions of varying lengths, called stereocilia. These are interconnected. The movement of these stereocilia caused by the vibrations is the key to signal transduction in the hair cells.
-
- Glossary
Vestibulo-ocular reflex
When we turn our head, our eyes automatically move in the opposite direction. This reflex ensures that a stable image is formed on the retina even when the head moves quickly. This is made possible by the connection between the semicircular canals of the vestibular system and the nerve nuclei of the eye muscles in the brain stem.
-
- Glossary
Vestibular system
The vestibular system is part of the inner ear. Its sensors are located in the semicircular canals. As part of the balance system, it detects circular movements (rotations), acceleration, and gravity.
-
- Page
Glossar
15.03.2017
