Tensor tympani
Musculus tensor tympani
Sensory (eye & ear)Deep musclesHeadLeft and right
View left in 3D View right in 3D
- What it is
- A small pennate muscle lying in a bony semicanal just above the Eustachian tube; its tendon turns sharply laterally around the cochleariform process to insert on the upper part of the malleus handle.
- Function
- Pulls the malleus inward, tensing the eardrum and damping loud low-frequency sound and the noise of chewing.
- Size
- About 20-25 mm long and 1.5 mm wide.
- Clinical note
- Supplied by the mandibular division of the trigeminal nerve (CN V3), unlike the stapedius, which is a facial-nerve muscle.