Talk:Eardrum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Previous revisions referred to REM sleep problems caused by perforated eardrums. I could find no mention of this information in the given source, nor elsewhere after a brief web search, and hence removed it. A check by one more knowledgeble than I would be appreciated. --Virnas 05:12, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Healing of punctured eardrum

I heard once, from a middle-school science teacher who used to be a fighter pilot, that pilots would sometimes neatly puncture their eardrums with a sharp object when they were fixing to be in a situation where the pressure might change suddenly without warning, because a neatly punctured eardrum will heal and an eardrum ruptured by a sudden pressure change might not. Can someone verify this and maybe comment on how long it takes for such a puncture to heal and hearing to return? --Jim Henry 18:15, 13 March 2006 (UTC)--65.81.13.49 18:12, 13 March 2006 (UTC)


I do not know if your teacher is correct. However, this procedure does make sense. The eardrum is equibrated between the pressure from the external auditory canal and the Eustachian tube (ET). The ET connects the middle ear to the nasopharynx tube. If a pilot changes pressure suddenly, the pressure in the external auditory canal is suddenly much greater than the pressure in the middle ear. The ET is only open during swallowing, yawning, etc. Therefore, your ET can't compensate for the pressure change in the external auditory canal. The effect is an eardrum perforation. This perforation could be quite large. And if it becomes chronic, it could lead to chronic infection and many other secondary complications.

When a pilot creates a small perforation in their eardrum, they are better prepared for rapid pressure changes. In a sense, they have created a manual system of pressure equilibration. And because of the perforation size, audition is not jeopardized.

In rodents, perforations heal within 10 to 14 days. Only 10-20% of perforations becomes persistant.

[edit] intratympanic muscles

I recently had a short essay question on the function of the Intratympanic muscles. It caught alot of us by surprise as none of us had come across it specifically and assumed its relevance to the tympanic membrain and mallius, incus and stapes bones. What would be a concise description of the Intratympanic muscles?

[edit] Minor eardrum tweakage required

Howdy, eardrum fans! A couple of things we should tweak --

Ruptured eardrum redirects to Eardrum, which does not discuss this condition. On the other hand, Perforated eardrum has a separate article.

fixed

Additionally, a surprisingly large number of articles link to Eardrum: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Whatlinkshere/Eardrum&limit=500&from=0 .

that is not surprising

IMHO, the main article should have at least a brief mention of medical conditions affecting the eardrum, with links to specific articles. -- 201.51.231.176 21:57, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] page name

eardrum is a colloquialism. Page should be named tympanic membrane. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.194.13.102 (talk) 02:39, 17 September 2007 (UTC)


I agree that the page should be called "Tympanic Membrane." This would be consistent with the current "stirrup," "hammer," and "anvil," redirecting to pages titled "stapes," "Malleus," and "Incus." Mobiuschic42 (talk) 20:59, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] what it does

some one please fill this in by pressing the edit button