TIL ...how Star Tours works! Your brain/ears can't distinguish between forward acceleration and upward tilt. So when you jump to "lightspeed," they just tilt the entire craft backward and your simple brain, expecting to go forward and not seeing anything to confirm that you
're tilting, happily goes along with the illusion.
The malleolus (hammer (or mallet) of the ear) points posteriorly (backward) when viewed from the internal auditory meatus (ear canal).
Hearing should never be asymmetric between the two ears; if it is, that is always significant.
In Waardenburg syndrome, congenital hearing loss is associated with heterochromia iridum (different colored eyes) as both are formed at a similar stage of development.
Caloric nystagmus is a useful diagnostic indicator (and apparently a fun, if wet, cocktail party trick) where you squirt water of different temperatures at each ear while laying down. This causes a convection effect (hot fluid rises) within the horizontal semicircular canal of the vestibular system. Fluid moving within the canals tells the ears that your head is turning, even though it's not, and your brain reacts by pointing your eyes the opposite direction to the perceived movement. The net result on a health person after you squirt water in their ears is that they will feel really dizzy and their eyes will move uncontrollably away from the warm water ear.
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