Oval window

Oval window
Middle ear, with oval window at right.
Right osseous labyrinth. Lateral view (label is vestibular fenestra — black circle near center)
Details
Latin	Fenestra vestibuli, fenestra ovalis
Identifiers
MeSH	A09.246.631.909.551
Dorlands /Elsevier	Oval window
TA
TH	{{#property:P1694}}
TE	{{#property:P1693}}
FMA	{{#property:P1402}}
Anatomical terminology [[[d:|edit on Wikidata]]]

The oval window (or vestibular window) is a membrane-covered opening that leads from the middle ear to the vestibule of the inner ear.

Vibrations that contact the tympanic membrane travel through the three ossicles and into the inner ear. The oval window is the intersection of the middle ear with the inner ear and is directly contacted by the stapes; by the time vibrations reach the oval window, they have been amplified over 20 times from what they were when they contacted the tympanic membrane, a testament to the amplifying power of the middle ear.

It is a reniform (kidney-shaped) opening leading from the tympanic cavity into the vestibule of the internal ear; its long diameter is horizontal and its convex border is upward. It is occupied by the base of the stapes, the circumference of which is fixed by the annular ligament to the margin of the foramen.

It is underneath the hammer, anvil and stirrup bones and it is next to the ear drum. To the right is the cochlea and the auditory nerve.

Additional images

• 

  View of the inner wall of the eardrum (label is fen. oval. — black circle near top)

• 

  Cochlea

See also

• Round window

References

• This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

External links

• Diagram at Washington University
• The Anatomy Wiz. Oval Window