INTERNAL EAR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does internal ear mean? 

• INTERNAL EAR (noun)
  The noun INTERNAL EAR has 1 sense:

1. a complex system of interconnecting cavities; concerned with hearing and equilibrium

  Familiarity information: INTERNAL EAR used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INTERNAL EAR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A complex system of interconnecting cavities; concerned with hearing and equilibrium

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

inner ear; internal ear; labyrinth

Hypernyms ("internal ear" is a kind of...):

receptor; sense organ; sensory receptor (an organ having nerve endings (in the skin or viscera or eye or ear or nose or mouth) that respond to stimulation)

Meronyms (parts of "internal ear"):

neuroepithelium (epithelium associated with special sense organs and containing sensory nerve endings)

membranous labyrinth (the sensory structures of the inner ear including the labyrinthine receptors and the cochlea; contained within the bony labyrinth)

bony labyrinth; osseous labyrinth (cavity in the petrous part of the temporal bone that contains the membranous labyrinth)

endolymph (the bodily fluid that fills the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear)

perilymph (the bodily fluid that fills the space between the bony labyrinth and the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear)

semicircular canal (one of three tube loops filled with fluid and in planes nearly at right angles with one another; concerned with equilibrium)

cochlea (the snail-shaped tube (in the inner ear coiled around the modiolus) where sound vibrations are converted into nerve impulses by the organ of Corti)

artery of the labyrinth; internal auditory artery; labyrinthine artery (an artery that is a branch of the basilar artery that supplies the labyrinth)

internal auditory vein; labyrinthine vein (veins that drain the inner ear)

Holonyms ("internal ear" is a part of...):

auditory apparatus (all of the components of the organ of hearing including the outer and middle and inner ears)

 Context examples 

The internal ear; the essential part of the organ of hearing.

(Murine Inner Ear, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A non-metastasizing neoplasm that arises from the external, middle, or internal ear.

(Benign Ear Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus)

A benign or malignant neoplasm that affects the external, middle, or internal ear.

(Ear Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus)

The part of the internal ear that is concerned with hearing.

(Cochlea, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The organ of hearing: composed of the external ear, which includes the auricle and the external acoustic, or auditory, meatus; the middle ear, or the tympanic cavity with its ossicles; and the internal ear or inner ear, or labyrinth, which includes the semicircular canals, vestibule, and cochlea.

(Murine Ear, NCI Thesaurus)