Morphometric Dimensions of Male Auditory Ossicles among Nigerian Population

Introduction The auditory ossicles transfer sound vibrations in the tympanic membrane from the middle ear to the inner ear. These ossicles are located in the petrous part of the temporal bone and they form a chain across the tympanic cavity from the tympanic membrane to the oval window. Aim The present study was aimed at providing the morphometric dimensions of the male auditory ossicles among the Nigerian population. Materials and Methods The study was carried out on 94 malleus (R=44, L=50), 70 incus (R=34, L=36), and 27 stapes (R=10, L=17) auditory ossicles collected from 57 unidentified adult male cadavers from the departments of anatomy of various universities in Nigeria. The various parameters were taken with the help of a digital vernier caliper and weighed with Mettler Toledo weighing balance. Results This study revealed no statistically significance difference (p>0.05) between morphometric measurements of the bones of the right and left side except in the malleus. The mean weights (mg) of the malleus, incus and stapes were 22.04, 27.02, and 3.34, respectively. The mean lengths (mm) of the malleus and incus were 8.02 and 6.73, respectively and the mean length of footplates in stapes was 1.94 mm. The mean width of the incus was 4.12 mm and the mean width of the footplate in stapes was 2.88 mm. Conclusion The three auditory ossicles are morphometrically identical in both ears except the malleus. The precise measurements of the ossicles have been reported in this study among the adult male Nigerian population which would be very helpful in forensic study. Variations were observed in the dimensions of the ossicles when compared with previous studies which may be due to racial or regional factors as the values from published authors are from Asian and Caucasian populations.