Tensor tympani muscle
| Tensor tympani muscle |
|---|
|
| View of the right eardrum from the tympanic cavity (i.e. from the inside). The insertion point of the tensor tympani muscle can be seen on the hammer handle |
| origin |
| Tuba auditiva |
| approach |
| Hammer handle |
| function |
| Tensioner of the eardrum |
| Innervation |
| Nervus musculi tensoris tympani (branch of the nervus mandibularis ) |
The tensor tympani muscle ( Latin for "tensioner of the eardrum") or eardrum tensioner belongs to the two middle ear muscles. The stapedius muscle represents the other.
It arises on the cartilage of the ear trumpet ( Tuba auditiva ) above the tube opening ( Ostium tympanicum tubae auditivae ), runs through the anterior level of the musculotubary canal and attaches to the hammer handle ( Manubrium mallei ). It is innervated by the tensor tympani nerve , branch of the medial pterygoid nerve from the mandibular nerve , third branch (V3) of the trigeminal nerve .
The tensor tympani muscle pulls the malleus medially and thereby tensions the eardrum. As with the stapedius reflex, this tension increases the reflection of the sound on the eardrum and transfers less sound energy to the ossicular chain, but a contraction of the muscle is not triggered by high sound pressures. However, a contraction of the muscle can be triggered by blowing bubbles against the eye in the sense of a startle reaction.
Individual evidence
- ↑ I. Klockhoff, H. Anderson: reflex activity in the tensor tympani muscle recorded in it . In: Acta Otolaryngol. 51, 1960, p. 184.