auditory nerve

The eighth cranial nerve. The auditory nerve, also known as the vestibulocochlear nerve, transmits information from the inner ear to the hindbrain, which it enters between the pons and medulla. It serves two distinct functions:

The acoustic portion carries sensations of sound and pitch from the organ of hearing, the cochlea; these are relayed to the auditory part of the cerebral cortex;

The vestibular portion carries postural sensation from the semicircular canals of the inner ear to the cerebellum. It provides information about position.

The auditory nerve derives embryologically as a sensory branch of the seventh cranial nerve.

Related category

• ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY

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