Equilibrium (Nursing)

00:01 Now the other part of the internal ear really has to deal with equilibrium.

00:07 And it's a very complicated process.

00:09 But it's a very important one because it allows us to know where we are in space in sort of a 3D sense.

00:17 And microscopically, what's going on, is in these very complicated structures such as the utricle, and the saccule and the inner ear.

00:27 We have what are called hair cells, that are basically like cilia that you might have heard of in, for example, the respiratory tract, or maybe the fallopian tube that kind of like they have these little hairlike things that beat and move fluids a certain direction.

00:43 These are like those except they don't move.

00:46 They're actually they're waiting to be moved.

00:50 And they're moved, if there's this, what we call, you know, otolithic membranes or odorless.

00:57 And basically, their tiny little like ear stones is what it literally means, and the fluid above these hair cells.

01:04 So that if they were to move in sort of a linear direction, this fluid in these odorless would knock over these hair cells.

01:12 And that would tell the brain that the head is moving in a certain direction.

01:18 Similarly, there's something called the ampullae of the semicircular canals in all three axes x, y, and z with a very similar process and a cupula and hair cells that would be able to sense rotational acceleration and deceleration.

01:35 And because we have so many different orientations of these hair cells, it gives us an idea of where we are located in space, to the left, back, down, up, whatever.

01:48 And it's very important for maintaining equilibrium and keeping us essentially upright and moving properly.