Ossicles

The ossicles (also called auditory ossicles) are irregular bones in the middle ear of humans and other animals, and are among the smallest bones in the human body. Although the term "ossicle" literally means "tiny bone" (from Latin: ossiculum) and may refer to any small bone throughout the body, it typically refers specifically to the malleus, incus and stapes ("hammer, anvil, and stirrup") of the middle ear. The term is also used to refer to other bones of the middle ear present in other animals, namely the columella (evolutionarily the same bone as the stapes), the extracolumella, and the batrachian operculum. The auditory ossicles serve as a kinematic chain to transmit and intensify sound vibrations collected from the air by the ear drum to the fluid-filled labyrinth (cochlea). The absence of the auditory ossicles would constitute a moderate-to-severe conductive hearing loss.