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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Jun 21.
Published in final edited form as: Volta Rev. 1997;99(5):9–28.

Figure 4.

Figure 4

A drawing of the bony chambers of the inner ear. The bony chambers (purple) of the inner ear form precise geometric shapes. There are five sensory epithelia in the balance portion of the inner ear (one for each of the three semicircular canals and two in a chamber where the three canals come together). The nerve fibers (brown) can be seen on their way to the hair cells in the sensory epithelia. The nerve is made up of the neuronal projections that connect the hair cells with the brain and is called the eighth nerve because it is one of 12 nerves that come off the brain in the skull. The spiral shaped cochlea originates from one of the balance organs and contains the sensory epithelium for hearing.