How normal eardrum look like ?
This is frequent question ask to me by my patients .
This video show Oto-endoscopy pictures of normal eardrum of both side .
Tympanic membrane is also known as eardrum .
Eardrum receives sound vibrations from the outer air and transmits them to the auditory ossicles , which are tiny bones in the middle ear. It also serves as the lateral wall of the middle ear , separating it from the external auditory canal. The membrane lies across the end of the external canal and looks like a flattened cone with its tip (apex) pointed inward.
The cone of light is in the 5 o’clock position when viewing a normal right ear drum and in the 7 o’clock position for a normal left ear drum. The absence or bent nature of a cone of light can indicate infection.
Eardrum is more or less oval in shape & 9 mm in diameter.It is pearly white in color, thin and semitransparent.The center of the ear drum appears retracted and is known as the umbo. This umbo lies at the apex of the cone of light. Whitish bony extension upwards from the umbo is the handle of the malleus ( Bone in middle ear ).

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