The smallest bones in the body are located where?

The smallest bones in the body are located in the middle ear. They are called the auditory ossicles: the malleus, incus, and stapes, commonly nicknamed the hammer, anvil, and stirrup.

These three bones form a chain between the eardrum and the inner ear. When sound reaches the eardrum, it vibrates the malleus, which passes the movement through the incus to the stapes. The stapes then presses against the oval window of the cochlea, helping convert sound vibrations into signals the brain can interpret.

The stapes is generally considered the smallest individual bone in the human body. A common mix-up is saying that the smallest bones are in the outer ear, but the ossicles are specifically in the middle-ear cavity, behind the eardrum. They are also important clinically: damage to this chain can cause conductive hearing loss.