The brain then interprets these sounds. Balance involves several areas of the inner ear, including the vestibule and semicircular canal. The temporal bones are the thickest bones of the skull ...

It is fascinating that the tiny bones in the middle ear appear to have evolved from gills that were no longer needed. Figure 2 shows the path that sound waves follow from the sound source where they ...

the mammalian ear acquired several extra components through the evolutionary reduction and transformation of jaw bones and their subsequent integration into the middle ear (whereas in birds and ...