Abstract
In 1863 Helmholtz 1 formulated the idea that the middle ear apparatus—that is, the tympanic membrane and ossicular chain— serves as a sound transformer. Drum vibrations are transmitted along the ossicular chain in a way that reinforces the alternating pressure of the sound waves. This increased pressure is then transmitted to the cochlear fluid by the piston-like action of the stapedial footplate moving the fluid back and forth. For 100 years, this lever-like mechanical transformer action of the ossicular chain has been accepted as the necessary condition for normal hearing, because loss of the transformer action by interruption or damage of the ossicular chain by disease or accident causes a serious loss of hearing, 30 db. Bekesy 2 studied five ears in which the drum, malleus, and incus were all absent. He reported an average loss in these cases of 15 to 65 db., which varied with the frequency.
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