Inner ear

The innermost part of the vertebrate ear, containing the cochlea and vestibular organs. It converts sound and head movement into neural signals for hearing and balance.

Cochlea: A spiral-shaped inner-ear structure that converts sound vibrations into neural signals. Its sensory epithelium separates incoming sound frequencies along the cochlear spiral.
Basilar membrane: A flexible membrane in the cochlea that supports the organ of Corti and vibrates differently across sound frequencies. Its traveling wave separates frequencies before hair cells encode them.
Audiometry: The measurement of hearing sensitivity and related auditory abilities using behavioral or physiological tests. It quantifies hearing loss that can arise from damage within the cochlea.
Middle ear: The air-filled space between the eardrum and inner ear, containing the auditory ossicles. It transmits sound mechanically, unlike the inner ear’s sensory transduction.
Vestibular system: The sensory system that detects head motion and orientation to support balance and gaze stabilization. Its organs detect head movement and position, complementing the cochlea’s hearing function.
Organ of Corti: The sensory structure on the basilar membrane containing cochlear hair cells and supporting cells. It converts basilar-membrane motion into auditory nerve activity.
Otoacoustic emissions: Sounds generated by the cochlea and measurable in the ear canal, usually reflecting outer hair-cell activity. Their presence offers a noninvasive check of cochlear function.
Outer ear: The pinna and ear canal, which collect and direct sound toward the eardrum. It gathers sound rather than encoding it as neural signals.
Hair cell: A sensory receptor cell with mechanically sensitive hair bundles that convert movement into electrical signals. Hair cells transduce fluid-driven movement in both cochlear and vestibular organs.
Auditory transduction: The conversion of sound-driven mechanical movement into electrical signals by cochlear sensory cells. It is the inner ear’s central step from vibration to hearing-related neural activity.

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