Tympanic branch

Tympanic nerve
Plan of upper portions of glossopharyngeal, vagus, and accessory nerves. (Tympanic nerve visible in upper right)
Tympanic nerve (labelled right side)
Details
To	tympanic plexus
Identifiers
Latin	nervus tympanicus
Dorlands /Elsevier	n_05/12566985
TA	A14.2.01.138
FMA	53480
Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy []

The tympanic nerve (nerve of Jacobson) is a branch of the glossopharyngeal nerve found near the ear.

It arises from the petrous ganglion, and ascends to the tympanic cavity through a small canal, the inferior tympanic canaliculus, on the under surface of the petrous portion of the temporal bone on the ridge which separates the carotid canal from the jugular fossa.

In the tympanic cavity it divides into branches which form the tympanic plexus and are contained in grooves upon the surface of the promontory.

Jacobson's nerve contains both sensory and secretory fibers.

The postganglionic parasympathetic fibers are then distributed via the auriculotemporal nerve (branch of the trigeminal nerve) to the parotid gland.

This nerve may be involved by paraganglioma, in this location referred to as glomus jugulare or glomus tympanicum tumours.

Lesser petrosal nerve

Sympathetic connections of the otic and superior cervical ganglia.

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)