Among all the bones in our body, the stapes is the smallest and lightest of them all. They measure roughly about 3 x 2.5mm, greater along the head-base span. The stapes is a stirrup-shaped bone, and the smallest in the body. The stapes is the third bone of the three ossicles in the middle ear of humans and other mammals which is involved in the conduction of sound vibrations to the inner ear collectively known as the ossicles. It rests on the oval window, to which it is connected by an annular ligament. The ossicles convey sound pressure waves from the outer ear and ear drum to the inner ear, where the waves are translated into nerve impulses that go to the brain for identification.
