Cochlea

The cochlea is the auditory portion of the inner ear. It is a spiral-shaped cavity in the bony labyrinth, making 2.5 turns around its axis. A core component of the cochlea is the Organ of Corti, the sensory organ of hearing, which is distributed along the partition separating fluid chambers in the coiled tapered tube of the cochlea.

Cochlea
Cross section of the cochlea
Parts of the inner ear, showing the cochlea
Latin	Cochlea
System	Auditory system

The name is from the Greek κοχλίας kokhlias ("snail, screw"), from κόχλος kokhlos ("spiral shell"). This is in reference to its coiled shape: the cochlea is coiled in most mammals, monotremes being the exceptions.

Cochlea Media

• 

  3D model of cochlea and semicircular canals

• 

  This W3C-unspecified vector image was created with Adobe Illustrator.

• This animated video illustrates how sounds travel to the inner ear, and then to the brain, where they are interpreted and understood. The cochlea in the inner ear is a spiral-shaped organ that contains hair cells, which sense sound vibrations. Hair cells convert sound vibrations into chemical signals that the auditory nerve can understand.

• 

  Right osseous labyrinth. Lateral view.

• 

  Interior of right osseous labyrinth.

• 

  The cochlea and vestibule, viewed from above.

• 

  Cross-section of the cochlea.