If the donor's ossicles are used as well, they are connected to the patient's remaining ear bones so that sound vibrations can be conducted unimpeded to the inner ear.
In normal hearing, airborne sound waves enter the outer ear, set up vibrations in the ossicles ("hammer, anvil stirrup") of the middle ear.
Sound vibrations are transmitted by the eardrum and ossicle bones to the inner ear, a bony and membranous structure lined with tiny hairs that connect to the brain's auditory .