# Liquid in your ear for balance? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-in-your-ear-for-balance/125624 "2002-08-26T14:08:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-in-your-ear-for-balance/125624/1 "2002-08-26T14:08:28Z")
Is there liquid in your ear that’s necessary for balance? I hear about this alot but never understood it. Is it in both ears? What is it made out of? Can it leak out and leave you in a perpetual state of dizziness? ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-in-your-ear-for-balance/125624/2 "2002-08-26T14:32:40Z")
The cochlea (the snail-looking thingy in the inner ear) had liquid in it, bu IIRC it’s more for hearing than balance. The fluid amplies sound waves, I think, and transmits those waves to little hair-like structures. The waves are then transmitted to the auditory nerve, which sends impulses to the brain. Actually, if you shake your head really hard and fast, you’ll hear an odd sort of noise. That’s the fluid in the cochleas being sloshed around. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-in-your-ear-for-balance/125624/3 "2002-08-26T14:35:16Z")
Not really an expert, but I’ll pass on my little knowledge. Yes, there really is liquid. There are 3 semicircular canals oriented along the 3 perpindicular planes. So if you tilt your head, the liquid will move along one or more of these channels. The channels are lined with fine hairs connected to nerve endings, so your brain can detect when liquid has reached that part of the canal, and thus deduce your position in space. I doubt it can easily leak out – seems like evolution would have worked to stop that. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-in-your-ear-for-balance/125624/4 "2002-08-26T15:25:07Z")
For a rather technical overview with the names of the various important fluids, see [http://psych.athabascau.ca/html/Psych402/Biotutorials/25/canals.shtml](http://psych.athabascau.ca/html/Psych402/Biotutorials/25/canals.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Rhapsody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@Rhapsody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhapsody)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-in-your-ear-for-balance/125624/5 "2002-08-26T17:00:57Z")
the fluid in your inner ear is what supplies your brain with balance information. It is becasue of this that drinking makes you dizy as the fluid is replaced with alcohol (not usually completly replaced but absorbs some alcohol) the lighter alcohol causes misreporting from the inner ear and you feel unbalanced. This fluid is responsible also for the continued dizyness that lasts for several seconds after spinning really fast. the fluid is dislocated and the feeling of unbalance will last until the fluid settles back to where it belongs. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-in-your-ear-for-balance/125624/6 "2002-08-26T18:13:04Z")
Note that [otoliths](http://www.tchain.com/otoneurology/disorders/bppv/otoliths.html) (small “stones”) swishing within the fluid are crucial for balance.