Nerve
Vestibulocochlear nerve (CN VIII)
Hearing and balance
High-yield
Purely sensory (hearing + balance); passes through the internal acoustic meatus. A vestibular schwannoma (acoustic neuroma) arises here.
Overview
The eighth cranial nerve, carrying the special senses of hearing (cochlear) and balance (vestibular) from the inner ear.
Reference facts
- Roots
Special sensory (cranial nerve)
- Course
Runs from the inner ear through the internal acoustic meatus to the pontomedullary junction
- Motor
None (efferent olivocochlear fibres modulate the cochlea)
- Sensory
Hearing (cochlear division) and equilibrium/balance (vestibular division)