The wonderful sixth sense of the human body – vestibular endoreceptors!

  The design of the human body by God’s Creator is precise, practical and scientific, and the design, matching and assembly of the sensory organs are even better. The so-called sense organs are the medium through which the body interacts with internal and external information, also known as receptors, and are divided into two categories: internal receptors and external receptors.  People are most familiar with the external receptors, which are the five senses we are born with – eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body. Since these exoreceptors need to be in direct contact with external sensory factors (called stimuli) to produce the corresponding sensations, almost all of them are designed to be located on the surface of our body (visual, pain and temperature sensation, etc.) or in the body cavities (ear canal, nasal cavity, oral cavity) that are connected to the outside world, visible, palpable and located in the most active and highest position of the head, in order to more directly, easily and flexibly interact with information from inside and outside the body. In addition, there is another organ in the human body that is not familiar to everyone and is different from the other five senses, which cannot be seen or touched and does not require direct contact with the outside world to produce sensation, called the inner receptors.  The ear is divided into the outer ear (auricle and external auditory canal), middle ear (tympanic membrane, middle ear cavity and auditory chain) and inner ear, which is composed of cochlea and vestibule. The vestibule and the cochlea are like twin siblings located together in our skull, with the cochlea being responsible for hearing and the vestibule for position balance. The vestibule is composed of three small semi-circular canals perpendicular to each other (the scientific name is the semicircular canal) and a vestibular pool containing two otolithic sacs, which perceive our body’s three-dimensional rotation, linear motion stimuli and static spatial position. The spatial orientation consists of body position orientation and visual orientation, the latter of which is like the guidance system of a missile, enabling our eyes to remain steadily focused on the visual target during rapid movements. The most prominent feature of the vestibular receptors is that the human body can experience its own spatial position and state even when the eyes are closed or blindfolded, without any contact or touch. Unlike the other five senses that grow outside the body, the vestibular receptors grow inside the skull and do not require direct contact with the outside world in order to function, which is why they are called the endoreceptors of the human body and the sixth sense of the human body.  The vestibular and cochlear receptors are part of the inner ear, so inner ear damage is not only associated with cochlear symptoms such as deafness and tinnitus, but also with vestibular damage such as vertigo, rotational vision and balance disorders, which may occur simultaneously or sequentially. Therefore, when we have symptoms of deafness and tinnitus, in addition to active treatment, we should also pay attention to vertigo that may appear at any time, and prevent deafness but also vertigo. Also, don’t forget to visit an otologist when just a single vertigo symptom occurs.