Tympanic cavity Tympanic cavity The tympanic cavity is a small cavity surrounding the bones of the middle ear. Within it sit the ossicles, three small bones that transmit vibrations used in the detection of sound. On its lateral surface, it abuts the external auditory meatus [ ear canal ] from which it is separated by the tympanic membrane (eardrum). The tympanic cavity is bounded by: It is formed from the tubotympanic recess, an expansion of the first pharyngeal pouch. If damaged, the tympanic membrane can be repaired in a procedure called tympanoplasty. Should fluid accumulate within the middle ear as the result
Common name not always English. For example, "Dikkop" is the centuries-old South African vernacular name for their two local species: "Burhinus capensis" is the Cape dikkop (or "gewone dikkop", not to mention the presumably much older Zulu name "umBangaqhwa"); "Burhinus vermiculatus" is the "water dikkop". The thick joints in question are not even, in fact, the birds’ knees, but the intertarsal joints—in lay terms the ankles. Furthermore, not all species in the genus have “thick knees”, so the thickness of the "knees" of some species is not of clearly descriptive significance. The family Burhinidae has members that have various common names even