[Structure of the middle ear in infants].

In section specimens of 20 infants aged 2 months to one year the morphology of the middle ear was studied in comparison with 20 adult cases aged 20-50 years. The differences were in size and shape of the tympanic cavity, eustachian tube, mastoid and middle ear ossicles. The comparison of dimensions of auditory ossicles in the infants and in adults shows that the length of malleus increases 11.9%, the length of manubrium mallei--11.5%, crus longum incudis--10.2%, the incus length--7.6%, incus width--8.2%, stapes length--4.5%, length of stapes basis--5.3%, width of stapes basis--7.5%. These data may be useful in pediatric otolaryngology.