Cochlea to structures in the brainstem for further processing. The "stapes" (stirrup) ossicle bone of the middle ear transmits vibrations to the "fenestra ovalis" (oval window) on the outside of the cochlea, which vibrates the perilymph in the "vestibular duct" (upper chamber of the cochlea). The ossicles are essential for efficient coupling of sound waves into the cochlea, since the cochlea environment is a fluid–membrane system, and it takes more pressure to move sound through fluid–membrane waves than it does through air; a pressure increase is achieved by the area ratio of the tympanic membrane to the oval window, resulting in
Jock Stirrup Secretary Liam Fox announced that General Sir David Richards, the then Chief of the General Staff, would succeed Stirrup as Chief of the Defence Staff in October 2010. Richards took over on 29 October 2010 and Stirrup was created a life peer as Baron Stirrup, of Marylebone in the City of Westminster. He was introduced into the House of Lords on 1 February 2011, where he sits as a crossbencher. Stirrup officially retired from the RAF on 4 April 2011. The following month Stirrup gave detailed evidence to the Commons Defence Select Committee on the UK's recent Strategic Defence and