Internal auditory meatus

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Bone: Internal auditory meatus

Left temporal bone. Inner surface.
File:Gray140.png
Diagrammatic view of the fundus of the right internal acoustic meatus.
Latin	meatus acusticus internus
Gray's	subject #34 143
Dorlands/Elsevier	m_06/12518154

The internal acoustic meatus (also internal auditory meatus) is a canal in the temporal bone of the skull that carries nerves from inside the cranium towards the middle and inner ear compartments.

Structure[]

The opening to the internal acoustic meatus is located inside the cranial cavity, near the center of the posterior surface of the temporal bone. The size varies considerably; its margins are smooth and rounded. The canal is short (about 1 cm) and runs laterally into the bone. At its end are the openings for three different canals, one of which is the facial canal.

Unlike the external acoustic meatus, the internal acoustic meatus does not transmit sound. It instead transmits the facial and vestibulocochlear nerves and the internal auditory branch of the basilar artery. The facial nerve travels through the facial canal, eventually exiting the skull at the stylomastoid foramen.

The opening of the meatus is called the porus acusticus internus, or its English translation, the internal acoustic opening.

Additional images[]

References[]

Dorlands/Elsevier p_30/12660414

External links[]

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

Human cranial bones

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parietal bone: Parietal eminence | Temporal line | Parietal foramen

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v·d·e Foramina of the skull (and canals and fissures)
Foramina	cecum - ethmoidal (anterior, posterior) - incisive - jugular - lacerum - magnum - mandibular - mastoid - mental - optic - orbital (infraorbital, supraorbital) - ovale - palatine (greater, lesser) - parietal - rotundum - sphenopalatine - spinosum - stylomastoid - zygomaticofacial - zygomaticotemporal
Canals	carotid - condylar - hypoglossal - incisive - pterygoid
Fissures	orbital (inferior, superior) - petrotympanic
other	external acoustic meatus - internal acoustic meatus - cribriform plate

Internal auditory meatus

Contents

Structure[]

Additional images[]

See also[]

References[]

External links[]