Synonyms
Definition
The outer ear is responsible to capture sound in the environment.
Introduction
The outer parts of the ear are responsible for capturing sounds from the environment and transmitting them to the latter parts of the ear for further processing. The outer ear consists of the pinna (auricle) and the ear canal (external auditory meatus).
The Pinna
The outer ear, otherwise called external ear, is consisted of the pinna, otherwise called the auricle (see Moller 2013; Seikel et al. 2010), the ear canal, otherwise called external auditory meatus, and the ear drum, which is the lateral portion of the tympanic membrane (Pickles 2012; Munir and Clarke 2013).
The pinna’s main function is to collect sound to direct it to the area of the cochlea where the sound is further analyzed and processed. The pinna has many important functions, such as helping with the localization of sound in the environment (Seikel et al. 2010).
The Ear Canal
The sound arrives there through the...
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References
Balkany, T. J., & Brown, K. D. (2017). The ear book. A complete guide to ear disorders and health. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Moller, A. R. (2013). Hearing. Anatomy, physiology, and disorders of the auditory system (3rd ed.). San Diego: Plural Publishing Inc.
Munir, N., & Clarke, R. (2013). Ear, nose and throat at a glance. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell/Wiley.
Pickles, J. O. (2012). An introduction to the physiology of hearing (4th ed.). Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing.
Seikel, A. J., King, D. W., & Drumright, D. G. (2010). Chapter 9: Anatomy of hearing. In Anatomy & physiology for speech, language, and hearing (4th ed., pp. 447–478). New York: Delmar Cengage Learning.
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Khalil, M. (2018). Outer Ear, The. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_989-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_989-1
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