Malleus (Malleus)
Educational content only — not medical advice.
Anatomy
The malleus is the largest of the three auditory ossicles of the middle ear and articulates with the incus at the incudomalleolar joint. It consists of a head, neck, and a manubrium (handle) firmly attached to the tympanic membrane, plus an anterior process directed toward the petrotympanic fissure. The tensor tympani muscle inserts on its neck/manubrium and damps membrane vibration; the malleus transmits sound vibrations from the tympanic membrane to the ossicular chain.
Clinical notes
Disruption or subluxation of the incudomalleolar joint after head trauma is a classic cause of conductive hearing loss. Fixation of the malleus (e.g. tympanosclerosis after chronic otitis media) also produces a conductive deficit; middle-ear integrity is assessed with otoscopy and tympanometry.
Related structures
Educational references
FAQ
What is the role of the Malleus?
The malleus is the largest of the three auditory ossicles of the middle ear and articulates with the incus at the incudomalleolar joint. It consists of a head, neck, and a manubrium (handle) firmly attached to the tympanic membrane, plus an anterior process directed toward the petrotympanic fissure. The tensor tympani muscle inserts on its neck/manubrium and damps membrane vibration; the malleus transmits sound vibrations from the tympanic membrane to the ossicular chain.
Why is the Malleus clinically important?
Disruption or subluxation of the incudomalleolar joint after head trauma is a classic cause of conductive hearing loss. Fixation of the malleus (e.g. tympanosclerosis after chronic otitis media) also produces a conductive deficit; middle-ear integrity is assessed with otoscopy and tympanometry.
Source & license
Derived from Z-Anatomy (Gauthier Kervyn et al.), CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/); upstream geometry from BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science. license details