inner ear

inner ear

n.

The portion of the ear located within the temporal bone that is involved in both hearing and balance and includes the semicircular canals, vestibule, and cochlea. Also called internal ear, labyrinth.

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inner ear  (nr)

The innermost part of the ear in many vertebrate animals, consisting of the cochlea, the semicircular canals, and the vestibule. Sound vibrations are transmitted from the cochlea of the inner ear to the brain by the auditory nerve. The semicircular canals and the vestibule are the body's organs of balance. See more at ear¹.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

inner ear - a complex system of interconnecting cavities; concerned with hearing and equilibrium internal ear, labyrinth neuroepithelium - epithelium associated with special sense organs and containing sensory nerve endings sense organ, sensory receptor, receptor - an organ having nerve endings (in the skin or viscera or eye or ear or nose or mouth) that respond to stimulation auditory apparatus - all of the components of the organ of hearing including the outer and middle and inner ears membranous labyrinth - the sensory structures of the inner ear including the labyrinthine receptors and the cochlea; contained within the bony labyrinth bony labyrinth, osseous labyrinth - cavity in the petrous part of the temporal bone that contains the membranous labyrinth endolymph - the bodily fluid that fills the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear perilymph - the bodily fluid that fills the space between the bony labyrinth and the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear semicircular canal - one of three tube loops filled with fluid and in planes nearly at right angles with one another; concerned with equilibrium cochlea - the snail-shaped tube (in the inner ear coiled around the modiolus) where sound vibrations are converted into nerve impulses by the organ of Corti artery of the labyrinth, internal auditory artery, labyrinthine artery - an artery that is a branch of the basilar artery that supplies the labyrinth internal auditory vein, labyrinthine vein - veins that drain the inner ear