Question

The malleus, incus, and stapes are part of
(a) External ear
(b) Middle ear
(c) Inner ear
(d) None of these.

Answer 1

Hint: A small air-filled cavity, present in the temporal bone which is also called a tympanic cavity that is separated from the eardrum and thin bony partitions of the labyrinth.

Complete answer:
The tympanic cavity is a small, air-filled cavity in the temporal bone that is separated by the external ear by the eardrum and by the internal ear by a thin bony partition. This tympanic cavity is called the middle ear that contains three ear ossicles called the malleus, incus, and stapes which are attached to one another in a chain-like fashion.

Additional Information: - Anatomically the ear is divided into three regions: the outer ear, middle ear, and inner ear.
- Outer ear or external ear consists of the auricle (ear pinna), external auditory canal, and eardrum. The vibrations in the air that produce sound are collected by a flap of elastic cartilage called the auricle. The auditory canal is the curved tube that leads up to the tympanic membrane i.e, eardrum.
- The three ear ossicles malleus, incus, and stapes are present in the tympanic cavity or middle ear which is an air-filled cavity.
- The fluid-filled cavity in the ear in the inner ear also called the labyrinth consists of two parts, the bony labyrinth, and the membranous labyrinth.
So, the correct answer is ‘middle ear’

Note: Ear ossicles are the smallest bones in the body, among them, stapes is the smallest one. Malleus is a hammer-shaped bone, stapes is a stirrup-shaped bone and incus is an avail shaped bone.
They are attached to each other in the order malleus-incus-stapes.