Anatomy and Physiology of Hearing
R James A England, Eamon Shamil, Rajeev Mathew, Manohar Bance, Pavol Surda, Jemy Jose, Omar Hilmi, Adam J Donne in Scott-Brown's Essential Otorhinolaryngology, 2022
The auricle (pinna) is the outermost projection of the ear with its lateral surface characterised by prominences and depressions (Figure 1.1a). The body is composed of elastic fibrocartilage and is a continuous plate except for a narrow band between the tragus and anterior crus of the helix where endaural incisions can be made. The auricle functions to collect acoustic energy and direct it into the external auditory canal (EAC), and to create incident angle–dependent modifications that help with sound localisation. The EAC is a 2.4-cm-long passage formed from cartilage in the lateral third and bone in the medial two-thirds. It is lined with keratinising squamous epithelium, which facilitates migration of desquamated cells toward the external opening of the canal at a rate of 0.1 mm/day.1 The mixture of these desquamated cells, cerumen, and sebum forms wax.
Head and neck
Tor Wo Chiu in Stone’s Plastic Surgery Facts, 2018
Associated features include Hearing loss – sensorineural loss is less common (10%–15%) than conductive (80%–90%). The severity of external deformity does not correlate well with middle ear function.Patients with microtia are more likely to have problems at school, which may be partly due to the hearing loss, as well as self-esteem issues.BAHAs vs. middle ear implants (Vibrant Soundbridge®)Jahrsdoerfer grading system (1992) based on external ear appearance and CT findings especially stapes, correlates with outcome of surgeryOthers include facial clefts, micro-/anophthalmia, limb defects, etc.Whilst the auricle may be normal with middle ear anomalies, when there is microtia, there are almost always abnormalities of the middle ear.
Cord. (περὶ καρδίης, de corde)
Elizabeth M. Craik in The ‘Hippocratic’ Corpus, 2014
The heart, which lies in a fibrous bag known as the pericardium, is a muscular pump with four cavities or chambers. The two upper chambers are known as atria, the two lower chambers as ventricles. The term auricle is used of the ear-shaped tip of each atrium. At the outlet of each chamber is a valve, which functions to maintain the one-way circulation of the blood. Blood enters the right atrium of the heart via the inferior and the superior vena cava, is pumped into the right ventricle, then through the pulmonary artery to the lungs, where it is enriched with oxygen. The oxygenated blood is then carried back to the left atrium of the heart via the pulmonary vein, is pumped to the left ventricle and then through the aorta to the rest of the body.
Auricular reconstruction using Medpor combined with different hearing rehabilitation approaches for microtia
Published in Acta Oto-Laryngologica, 2021
Chenyan Jiang, Chen Zhao, Bin Chen, Lixin Lu, Yuxin Sun, Xiaojun Yan, Bin Yi, Hao Wu, Runjie Shi
The Medpor framework consists of helical and base components. These two components are shaped to form an auricle that is customized in size and shape to those of the normal or contralateral ear. Three to four holes were drilled in the base components by a Kirschner wire for fixing to the framework. The framework was sutured in place with a 4–0 prolene suture, prepared in advance, through the holes. A small drain was placed at its helical aspect and removed after 7–10 days. The TPF flap was then entirely draped over the framework and tied with a 5–0 absorbable suture. Finally, the lower one-third of the TPF was covered with the anterior-based local skin flap, and the upper two-third of the TPF was covered with full-thickness skin grafts from the lower abdomen or inguinal regions. Proper packaging and fixing were performed with a vaseline gauze and 1% chloramphenicol liquid gauze dressing (Figure 1).
The benefits of ultrasonography in diagnosing and assessing auricular chondritis, arthritis, and tenosynovitis in a patient with relapsing polychondritis
Published in Modern Rheumatology Case Reports, 2019
Satoshi Shinohara, Koji Sakamoto
First, we conducted US examination of the auricle of a healthy female, using a HI VISION Avius (Hitachi, Tokyo Japan) with compact linear-array 14–6 MHz transducers. The US was set at the musculoskeletal setting. As the auricle has a concave and convex surface, longitudinal approaches from the front and from the rear are advantageous to analyse the anthelix and concha auriculae, respectively, because of the wide view and easy access by compact linear array transducers. The auricle is a plate-shaped organ sandwiched on both sides by an air layer. The boundary surface between air and contralateral auricular skin from the transducer causes virtual images (artifact). Before we began to identify the anatomical components of the auricle, we confirmed the contralateral skin surface using a Gem clip, which is highly reflective during US (data not shown). We considered the images under the Gem clip to be virtual (Figure 2(c,d)). Referring to a previous report on US examination of the auricle [4], we identified the hyperechoic epidermis, hypoechoic dermis, isoechoic subcutaneous tissue, and anechoic cartilage, separately (Figure 2(c,d)). The US of the lower one-third of the auricle (i.e. the earlobe) depicted the same components, excluding cartilage (data not shown).
The availability of an adhesive bone conduction hearing device: a preliminary report of a single-center experience
Published in Acta Oto-Laryngologica, 2020
Hideaki Moteki, Ryosuke Kitoh, Shin-ichi Usami
We kept records of the patients’ complaints and/or symptoms during the study period. The adhesive adapter seemed to be more stable and could be placed more easily behind the auricle for subjects who had hard scarring and skin tension due to auricular reconstruction surgery in comparison with those with normal ears. Therefore, the subjects with aural atresia from surgery had longer durability (approximately 4 or 5 days wearing capability), whereas the others with normal auricles had shorter durability of less than 3 days. Therefore, one patient (subject ACU1), who had unilateral atresia, developed mild dermatitis around the adhesive adapter (Figure 5(A)). A dermatologist diagnosed the problem as skin irritation due to soap or shampoo residue, not from the adapter itself, as the skin under the adapter showed normal findings (Figure 5(B)).
Related Knowledge Centers
- Antihelix
- Antitragus
- Ear Canal
- Helix
- Ear
- Wing
- Fin
- Zoology
- Sulcus
- Intertragic Notch