ANATOMY

Detailed explanation-1: -Your tympanic membrane (eardrum) is a thin, circular layer of tissue that separates your outer ear from your middle ear. Your eardrum plays an important role in hearing. It also protects your middle ear from dirt, bacteria and debris.

Detailed explanation-2: -tympanic membrane, also called eardrum, thin layer of tissue in the human ear that receives sound vibrations from the outer air and transmits them to the auditory ossicles, which are tiny bones in the tympanic (middle-ear) cavity.

Detailed explanation-3: -Retracted eardrums are caused by a problem with your Eustachian tubes. These tubes drain fluid to help maintain even pressure inside and outside of your ears. When your Eustachian tubes aren’t working correctly, decreased pressure inside your ear can cause your eardrum to collapse inward.

Detailed explanation-4: -The tympanic membrane is thin ( 0.1 mm thick), oval, and funnel-shaped. It marks the transition from ectoderm to endoderm and separates the tympanic cavity from the external acoustic meatus and thus from the external regions of the head. It is covered by an outer cuticular layer and an inner mucous layer.

Detailed explanation-5: -The thin semitransparent tympanic membrane, or eardrum, which forms the boundary between the outer ear and the middle ear, is stretched obliquely across the end of the external canal. Its diameter is about 8–10 mm (about 0.3–0.4 inch), its shape that of a flattened cone with its apex directed inward.