ossicle
- n a small bone; especially one in the middle ear
- 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 .