Practice quizzes › Anatomy quizzes › Ear Anatomy

Ear Anatomy Quiz

Twenty questions on the ear, from the parts you can see to the clinical puzzles. The diagram shows the right ear from the front. Tap an answer to see if you’re right.

  1. Question 1 of 20

    Name the highlighted outer part of the ear.

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. Mastoid
    2. Tragus only
    3. Ear canal
    4. Auricle (pinna)
    Show answer

    Answer: Auricle (pinna). The visible ear. Its folds funnel sound in and help you tell whether a sound is in front of or behind you.

  2. Question 2 of 20

    Name the highlighted tube leading inwards.

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. Eustachian tube
    2. Ear canal (external auditory canal)
    3. Internal auditory canal
    4. Cochlea
    Show answer

    Answer: Ear canal (external auditory canal). About 2.5 cm long in adults, slightly S-shaped, which is why the ear is pulled up and back to look in.

  3. Question 3 of 20

    Name the highlighted thin membrane at the end of the canal.

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. Oval window
    2. Round window
    3. Eardrum (tympanic membrane)
    4. Cochlea
    Show answer

    Answer: Eardrum (tympanic membrane). It vibrates with sound and passes the movement to the tiny bones of the middle ear.

  4. Question 4 of 20

    Name the highlighted bone, the smallest in the body.

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. Stapes
    2. Malleus
    3. Hyoid
    4. Incus
    Show answer

    Answer: Stapes. The ‘stirrup’, about 3 mm long. Its footplate pushes on the oval window to start waves in the inner ear fluid.

  5. Question 5 of 20

    Name the highlighted snail-shaped organ of hearing.

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. Semicircular canals
    2. Cochlea
    3. Mastoid air cells
    4. Vestibule
    Show answer

    Answer: Cochlea. Inside, hair cells turn fluid waves into nerve signals. Loud noise damages them for good.

  6. Question 6 of 20

    Name the highlighted loops that sense head rotation.

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. Semicircular canals
    2. Ossicles
    3. Cochlea
    4. Vestibule
    Show answer

    Answer: Semicircular canals. Three canals at right angles to each other, one for each plane of rotation, like nodding, shaking and tilting.

  7. Question 7 of 20

    Name the highlighted tube that equalises pressure, linking the middle ear to the back of the nose.

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. Cochlear duct
    2. Internal auditory canal
    3. Eustachian tube
    4. Ear canal
    Show answer

    Answer: Eustachian tube. Swallowing or yawning opens it. That ‘pop’ on a plane is pressure evening out.

  8. Question 8 of 20

    Name the highlighted ear bone attached to the eardrum.

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. Incus
    2. Stapes
    3. Mastoid
    4. Malleus
    Show answer

    Answer: Malleus. The ‘hammer’. Its handle is the pale line you can see through the eardrum.

  9. Question 9 of 20

    Name the highlighted middle bone of the chain.

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. Vestibule
    2. Incus
    3. Stapes
    4. Malleus
    Show answer

    Answer: Incus. The ‘anvil’. Malleus, incus, stapes: hammer, anvil, stirrup.

  10. Question 10 of 20

    Name the highlighted chamber that senses gravity and moving in a straight line.

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. Semicircular canals
    2. Tympanic cavity
    3. Cochlea
    4. Vestibule
    Show answer

    Answer: Vestibule. It holds the utricle and saccule, with tiny crystals (otoconia) that tell you which way is down.

  11. Question 11 of 20

    Name the highlighted nerve carrying hearing and balance to the brain.

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. Vestibulocochlear nerve (VIII)
    2. Facial nerve (VII)
    3. Vagus nerve (X)
    4. Trigeminal nerve (V)
    Show answer

    Answer: Vestibulocochlear nerve (VIII). It travels with the facial nerve through the internal auditory canal.

  12. Question 12 of 20

    Name the highlighted membrane-covered opening that bulges as the stapes pushes in.

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. Oval window
    2. Eardrum
    3. Round window
    4. Vestibule
    Show answer

    Answer: Round window. Fluid can’t be squashed, so when the stapes pushes the oval window in, the round window bulges out.

  13. Question 13 of 20

    Where is earwax made?

    1. Outer third of the ear canal
    2. Inner ear
    3. Eardrum
    4. Middle ear
    Show answer

    Answer: Outer third of the ear canal. Glands in the hairy outer canal make it, and it normally walks itself out. Cotton buds just push it back in.

  14. Question 14 of 20

    Which tiny muscle damps loud sounds by steadying the stapes?

    1. Temporalis
    2. Stapedius
    3. Tensor tympani
    4. Platysma
    Show answer

    Answer: Stapedius. The smallest skeletal muscle in the body, supplied by the facial nerve. In Bell’s palsy, ordinary sounds can seem painfully loud.

  15. Question 15 of 20

    Children get more middle ear infections than adults. Why, looking at the highlighted tube?

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. It’s longer and narrower
    2. It’s blocked at birth
    3. It’s shorter and more horizontal
    4. It has no lining
    Show answer

    Answer: It’s shorter and more horizontal. A short, flat tube drains poorly and lets germs up from the nose. It lengthens and tilts as the face grows.

  16. Question 16 of 20

    Age-related hearing loss takes high pitches first. Which part of the highlighted organ senses high pitches?

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. The whole cochlea equally
    2. The middle turn only
    3. The tip (apex)
    4. The base, near the oval window
    Show answer

    Answer: The base, near the oval window. High pitches peak at the stiff base, low pitches at the floppy apex. The base wears out first.

  17. Question 17 of 20

    Brief spinning when rolling over in bed is usually loose crystals in which highlighted structure?

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. Eustachian tube
    2. Cochlea
    3. Posterior semicircular canal
    4. Ear canal
    Show answer

    Answer: Posterior semicircular canal. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). The Epley manoeuvre rolls the crystals back where they belong.

  18. Question 18 of 20

    In otosclerosis, new bone fixes the highlighted bone in place. What kind of hearing loss results?

    Right ear, sliced front-on
    1. Central
    2. Conductive
    3. None
    4. Sensorineural
    Show answer

    Answer: Conductive. Sound can’t get through the middle ear, though the inner ear works. Often runs in families and can be fixed with surgery.

  19. Question 19 of 20

    A tuning fork on the forehead sounds louder in the deaf ear. What type of hearing loss is it?

    1. Conductive
    2. Sensorineural
    3. Mixed with tinnitus only
    4. Normal hearing
    Show answer

    Answer: Conductive. In Weber’s test, sound goes to the ear with conductive loss (try it with a finger in one ear). With sensorineural loss it goes to the good ear.

  20. Question 20 of 20

    Sudden hearing loss in one ear over a day, with a normal eardrum, needs what?

    1. Ear syringing
    2. Ear drops and wait a month
    3. Decongestants only
    4. Same-week (ideally same-day) hearing test and ENT review
    Show answer

    Answer: Same-week (ideally same-day) hearing test and ENT review. Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is an ear emergency. Steroids work best when started early.

Want one a day? Play Anatomegaly, the daily anatomy game: five body parts, four options each, new every midnight.

Common questions

What are the three parts of the ear?

The outer ear (auricle and ear canal) collects sound. The middle ear (eardrum and three tiny bones) amplifies it. The inner ear (cochlea for hearing, vestibule and semicircular canals for balance) turns it into nerve signals.

What are the three bones of the ear?

The malleus (hammer), incus (anvil) and stapes (stirrup), together called the ossicles. The stapes is the smallest bone in the body.

How does the ear control balance?

The semicircular canals sense turning, and the vestibule (utricle and saccule) senses gravity and straight-line movement. The brain combines this with vision and feedback from the joints.

More anatomy quizzes

Updated 16 November 2026. Diagrams are simplified, original sketches, not to scale. General education, not personal medical advice.