What is the shortest bone in the human body?

What is the shortest bone in the human body?

Answer:

The tiniest bone found in humans is also called the stirrup bone and scientifically, it is referred to as stapes.

The stapes is sited in the ear and it is among the facets that play a critical role in hearing. It is the smallest and the lightest bone in the body being approximately 3 millimetres long in adults. The stapes also has a significant function in hearing by passing the sound vibrations originating in the incus, another bone of the middle ear, to the inner ear. Due to the shape of the structure, it has another name which is ‘stirrup’. The stapes is the last of the three ossicles which include the malleus, incus, and stapes that help in the amplification of the sound waves in the middle ear. Nevertheless, the mere size of this structure should not be deceptive and it must be pointed out that it plays an extremely important role in the process of hearing, which just goes to prove how all structures in the human body are very important despite their size.


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