Otoanatomist Antonio Maria Valsalva and his maneuver (on the 360th anniversary of his birth)

The famous Italian anatomist and surgeon Antonio Maria Valsalva was born in 1666 in Imola to a noble family. At the University of Bologna, where Valsalva graduated in 1687, he studied biology, mathematics and medicine; then he worked as a teacher in the department of anatomy and also practiced as a surgeon. The name of Antonio Valsalva is widely known in scientific medical circles due to his contribution to the development of descriptive human anatomy, as well as physiology, surgery and pathological anatomy. First of all, Valsalva made a significant contribution to otolaryngology. In 1704, in the famous treatise «De Aure Humana Tractatus» ("About the human ear"), along with an analytical review of the information available at that time on the anatomy of the organ of hearing, he presented the results of his own anatomical and physiological research. This fundamental work, along with the «Traite de l'organ de l'ouie» (1683) by the French physician and anatomist Joseph Duvernay, is a milestone in the history of otology. Valsalva was the first to distinguish three parts: the external, middle and internal ear, and described in detail the anatomy and physiology of each of them. He explained the function of the auricle and its muscles, and also anatomically substantiated the patterns of conduction and amplification of the sound wave. The book describes in detail the structure of the middle ear and the mechanisms of the functioning of the eardrum, the communication between the mastoid cells and the tympanic cavity, the structure of the auditory ossicles and muscles. But most importantly, Valsalva almost anticipated Helmholtz's theory of hearing when he described the expansion of the auditory nerve as a zone of auditory perception. He illustrated the transmission of sound from the tympanic cavity to the oval window through the auditory ossicles. It was Valsalva who named the auditory tube after the Italian anatomist Bartolomeo Eustachio (1501-1574). The antrum, some muscles and ligaments are named after Valsalva, as well as the Valsalva maneuver (a technique for equalizing ear pressure).