Advanced Vestibule Quiz

Q1. Why are otoconia important for utricular and saccular function?

• They equalize middle-ear pressure
• They add mass that allows gravity and linear acceleration to displace the otolithic membrane
• They amplify sound at the oval window
• They generate vestibular action potentials without hair cells

Q2. How can displaced utricular otoconia contribute to benign paroxysmal positional vertigo?

• They can enter a semicircular duct and create inappropriate canal stimulation
• They can obstruct the auditory tube
• They can fuse the stapes to the oval window
• They can perforate the tympanic membrane

Q3. Why is the utricle particularly responsive to horizontal linear acceleration when a person is upright?

• It contains the organ of Corti
• Its macula is approximately horizontal in the upright position
• Its macula is located in the cochlear apex
• It is attached directly to the stapes

Q4. Why is the saccule particularly responsive to vertical linear acceleration when a person is upright?

• Its macula is parallel to the tympanic membrane
• Its hair cells lie in a semicircular canal cupula
• It receives vibration directly from the malleus
• Its macula is approximately vertical in the upright position

Q5. How does movement of the stapes at the oval window affect the vestibule?

• The auditory tube forces air into the vestibule
• Stapes movement displaces vestibular perilymph
• The incus directly moves the otolithic membrane
• The tympanic membrane pumps endolymph into the utricle

Q6. Why can a selective lesion of the vestibular division of CN VIII disturb balance while sparing hearing?

• The cochlear nerve supplies middle-ear muscles
• Hearing travels through the facial nerve
• The vestibule lies in the external ear
• Vestibular and cochlear information travel through distinct divisions of CN VIII

Q7. What is the functional importance of differing hair-cell orientations around the striola?

• They separate sound into different frequencies
• They open and close the oval window
• They permit directional encoding of linear acceleration and tilt
• They control stapedius contraction

Q8. Why can damage to both utricular and saccular maculae impair perception of head orientation even if the semicircular canals remain intact?

• The maculae directly control the auditory ossicles
• The otolith organs provide gravity and linear acceleration information distinct from canal signals
• The otolith organs are the only structures that detect sound
• Semicircular canals normally detect only gravity

Q9. Which relationship best distinguishes the vestibule from the cochlea and semicircular canals?

• It is an air-filled middle-ear chamber containing the ossicles
• It is the central bony labyrinth chamber containing the otolith organs
• It is the spiral auditory portion containing the organ of Corti
• It consists of three canals specialized for angular acceleration

Q10. Which statement best integrates the anatomy and function of the vestibule?

• It houses otolith organs that convert linear acceleration and gravitational forces into vestibular neural signals
• It is an external-ear chamber that collects sound
• It contains the organ of Corti and performs frequency analysis
• It houses the auditory ossicles and amplifies airborne sound