part_of part of has part has_part develops from adjacent to contributes to morphology of membrane organ middle ear 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]. MESH:D014432 VHOG:0001146 XAO:0000212 FMA:9595 GAID:870 UMLS:C0041445 EMAPA:19062 UBERON:0002364 membranous wall of tympanic cavity uberon Wikipedia:Tympanic_membrane MA:0000257 ear drum eardrum NCIT:C12502 myrinx Rivinus' membrane most AOs consider this part of the middle ear, so we go with this and place it in the middle ear as a border to the external, although it could be considered to overlap the external ear in that it has an EAM layer as part - for this reason we do not consider middle and external ear to be spatially disjoint. SCTID:181180005 lateral wall of tympanic cavity tympanum tympanic cavity inner epithelial layer of tympanic membrane pharyngeal membrane of 1st arch outer epithelial layer of tympanic membrane intermediate layer of tympanic membrane