How do we know?
↻ One of the pages with a moving picture
An Italian scientist found the tiny hearing part inside the ear.
- Sound waves enter your outer ear and travel down a narrow tunnel called the ear canal.
- The waves make your eardrum vibrate, like the skin of a drum.
- The eardrum passes the vibrations to three tiny bones: the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup. They make the vibrations stronger.
- The vibrations make fluid ripple inside the snail-shaped cochlea. Tiny hair cells ride the wave and send signals to your brain.
The Italian scientist Alfonso Corti studied the inner ear in Würzburg, Germany, working with Albert von Kölliker. Corti found the tiny hearing part inside the cochlea.
Kölliker suggested naming it after him, and today it is still called the “Organ of Corti.”
The stirrup (stapes) in your ear is only about 3 millimeters long. It is the smallest bone in your body.
Wow number
3 mm The stirrup (stapes) in your ear is only about 3 millimeters long. It is the smallest bone in your body!
Myth or fact?
Earwax is just dirt. Myth. Earwax helps protect your ear canal by cleaning out dirt.
The smallest bones in your body are in your ears. Fact. The hammer, anvil and stirrup are tiny!
Think about it
Why do you think you shouldn’t poke things into your ears?
Where in the world?
Würzburg, Germany where the Italian scientist Alfonso Corti studied the inner ear, working with Albert von Kölliker — 49.7913° N, 9.9534° E.
Where these facts come from
Every number on page 77, and who measured it
This page tells us about earwax and why we shouldn't poke things in our ears.
Ears — KidsHealth, a health site for kids from Nemours Children's Health
kidshealth.org/en/kids/ears.html
We checked it on 31 October 2026
This page tells us how sound travels from the eardrum to the cochlea.
How Do We Hear? — The U.S. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, hearing scientists
nidcd.nih.gov/health/how-do-we-hear
We checked it on 31 October 2026
This page tells us about the three tiny ear bones.
Ossicles: Function & Anatomy — Cleveland Clinic, a big hospital in Ohio
my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/ossicles
We checked it on 31 October 2026
This page tells us how small the stapes bone is.
Smallest bone — Guinness World Records, which keeps lists of world records
guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/smallest-bone
We checked it on 31 October 2026
This page tells us about Alfonso Corti's ear studies in Würzburg.
Alfonso Corti — The University of Würzburg Archives in Germany
uni-wuerzburg.de/en/uniarchiv/personalities/eminent-scholars/alfonso-corti
We checked it on 31 October 2026
Has this changed?
How ears hear is not going to change.
Scientists still use Corti’s name for the hearing part he found, the Organ of Corti.
Words from this page
- eardrum
- A thin skin inside your ear that vibrates when sound hits it.
- cochlea
- The snail-shaped part of the inner ear that turns vibrations into signals.
Try it!
See sound shake rice.
1. Stretch plastic wrap tightly over a bowl and hold it with a rubber band. 2. Sprinkle a few grains of dry rice on top. 3. Put your mouth close (not touching) and hum loudly. Then bang a pot nearby.
What happens: the rice jumps! Sound vibrations shake the plastic, just like they shake your eardrum. (Rice is for the test, not for eating.)
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