Cochlear nerve
Nervus cochlearis
Sensory (eye & ear)NervesHeadLeft and right
View left in 3D View right in 3D
- What it is
- The hearing part of the vestibulocochlear nerve (CN VIII): axons of the spiral ganglion neurons gather in the modiolus and run medially through the internal acoustic meatus to the cochlear nuclei of the brainstem.
- Function
- Carries frequency-coded auditory signals from the hair cells to the brain.
- Size
- About 30,000 fibres; about 1 mm in diameter at the meatus.
- Clinical note
- A vestibular schwannoma ("acoustic neuroma") growing in the internal acoustic meatus typically presents with one-sided hearing loss and tinnitus.