Assessment of the Ears

• How we hear


  1. Air conduction

  2. Sound waves through external auditory canal

  3. Tympanic membrane (TM)

  4. Sound vibrations cause the TM and the malleus (hammer), incus (anvil), and stapes (stirrup) bones to move

  5. Vibrations to inner ear structures

  
• Abnormal findings of the external ear

  
• Otoscope


  A flashlight type viewer used to visualize the eardrum and external ear canal