The anatomy of hearing and balance disorders and their treatment: Welcome to a brave new world

摘要

If New York City was a part our body, what do you think the city would be (careful here, I'm a native New Yorker and I have friends who know people...)? While some may say the cerebral cortex (for obvious reasons) or the heart (ditto) or larynx (as some of us are known to talk a lot), I would vote for the temporal bone. For those of you whose world does not go much beyond the molecular level (poor souls!), let me give a little background. The temporal bone in humans lies at the side and bottom of our skull. Its name "temporal" arises from the Latin, temporalis meaning "of time.' A thought is that the bone received its name as its flat, or squamosal portion, on the side of the head is where the passage of time is first seen (i.e., where we begin to grey).