tympanic membrane

A thin membrane that separates the external ear from the middle ear, consisting of two epithelia (one part of the the external accoustic meatus epithelium, the other part of the tympanic cavity epithelium) with a fibrous layer between them. Its function is to transmit sound from the air to the ossicles inside the middle ear. The malleus bone bridges the gap between the eardrum and the other ossicles. Rupture or perforation of the eardrum can lead to conductive hearing loss. [WP,unvetted]. Every claim on this page comes from the Leumas anatomy graph and carries its source.

What the tympanic membrane is

A thin membrane that separates the external ear from the middle ear, consisting of two epithelia (one part of the the external accoustic meatus epithelium, the other part of the tympanic cavity epithelium) with a fibrous layer between them. Its function is to transmit sound from the air to the ossicles inside the middle ear. The malleus bone bridges the gap between the eardrum and the other ossicles. Rupture or perforation of the eardrum can lead to conductive hearing loss. [WP,unvetted]. The atlas records it as a organ at the organ scale in the human body.

Where the tympanic membrane is

It sits in the head, within the sensory system. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.

What the tympanic membrane connects to

The atlas records 12 typed relationships for it, across 6 kinds of connection. part of middle ear.

Supply and innervation

This dataset asserts no arterial supply, venous drainage or innervation for the tympanic membrane. Only a minority of structures carry those edges here, so an empty answer means nothing has been recorded — not that there is nothing to record.

Also called

Also recorded as Rivinus' membrane, ear drum, eardrum, lateral wall of tympanic cavity, membranous wall of tympanic cavity and myrinx, and 2 more. Searching any of those names reaches this page.

Source

Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.), CC BY 4.0. Term UBERON:0002364, version 2026-06-19, retrieved 2026-08-24. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.

• Part of: middle ear.
• A kind of: membrane organ.
• Adjacent to: tympanic cavity.
• contains: inner epithelial layer of tympanic membrane, intermediate layer of tympanic membrane, outer epithelial layer of tympanic membrane, layer of tympanic membrane, pars flaccida of tympanic membrane and pars tensa of tympanic membrane.
• overlaps: external acoustic meatus and external ear.
• contributes to morphology of: middle ear.

Questions

Where is the tympanic membrane?

It sits in the head, within the sensory system. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.

What does the tympanic membrane connect to?

Part of: middle ear.

Is the tympanic membrane the same in other species?

Leumas holds the same relationship vocabulary for every species it carries, so where another dataset records this structure you can put the two side by side on /compare.