The structure acts as an amplifier of sound waves that would otherwise be only slightly perceivable by the inner ear structure alone.

However, the cochlea and other inner ear structures are usually present.

Inner ear structure is largely normal.

A suggested mechanism for this is the release of hydrolytic enzymes into the inner ear structures by the spongiotic lesions.

Skull fractures that go through the part of the skull containing the ear structures (the temporal bone) can also cause damage to the middle ear.

Therefore, ear structures in temnospondyls were not ancestral to those of all other tetrapods.

This type of hearing loss involves damage to tiny hair cells in the cochlea, an inner ear structure that contains the auditory nerve.

Glanosuchus had a middle ear structure that was intermediate between that of early therapsids and mammals.

Researchers were puzzled about how precise hearing ability could arise from a small ear structure.

But any loud or continuous noise can damage delicate ear structures, including music piped in through ear buds.