a complex nervous mechanism that perceives and differentiates sound stimuli. The peripheral part of the auditory analyzer, or the ear proper, consists of the sound-catching apparatus (outer ear – auricle and external auditory canal), sound-conducting apparatus (tympanic membrane and middle ear with a system of auditory ossicles), sound-perceiving apparatus (inner ear – cochlea with the organ of Corti). Sound vibrations are delivered to the cochlea through the outer and middle ear (air conduction), as well as the bones of the skull (bone sound conduction).