System in the body that is responsible for maintaining balance, posture, and the body’s orientation in space. This system also regulates locomotion and other movements and keeps objects in visual focus as the body moves. It works together with cochlea, and is a part of the auditory system the labyrinth of the inner ear. It is placed in the vestibulum in the inner ear. The vestibular system consists of two parts: the semicircular canal system and the otoliths. The function of the semicircular system is that it indicates movements that rotae, and the function of the otoliths is that it indicates linear accelerations. The vestibular system sends signals primarily to the neural structures that control eye movements, and to the muscles that keep an animal upright.The projections to the former provide the anatomical basis of the vestibulo-ocular reflex, which is required for clear vision; and the projections to the muscles that control posture are necessary to keep an animal upright.The brain uses information from the vestibular system in the head and from proprioception throughout the body to understand the body’s dynamics and kinematics (including its position and acceleration) from moment to moment.
The semicircular canal system detects rotational movements. The semicircular canals are its main tools to achieve this detection.Since the world is three-dimensional, the vestibular system contains three semicircular canals in each labyrinth. They are approximately orthogonal (right angles) to each other, and are called the horizontal (or lateral), the anterior semicircular canal (or superior) and the posterior (or inferior) semicircular canal. Anterior and posterior canals may be collectively called vertical semicircular canals.
