There are a number of cirri or unbranched appendages on a low, cone-shaped dorsal ossicle, a bone-like structure in the centre of the disc.
Once the vibrations reach the cochlea, the stirrup (part of the ossicles) puts pressure on the oval window.
The joint's function is to transfer vibrations between the ossicles in the middle ear, which is perceived as sound.
The mammalian middle ear contains three ossicles, which transfers the vibrations of the eardrum into waves in the fluid and membranes of the inner ear.
The auditory ossicles can also reduce sound pressure (the inner ear is very sensitive to overstimulation), by uncoupling each other through particular muscles.
Vibrations of the drum are conveyed to the inner ear via a system of bones called ossicles.
They are supported by an internal skeleton of calcium carbonate plates referred to as vertebral ossicles.
All of the ossicles move as a unit.
