Talk:Hyoid bone

Talk
what is the function of the hyoid bone in swallowing?

please put a diagram of some kind to indicate where in the head/neck this bone is located. The diagram of the bone itself is very nice, but where is it in the body?

Just as a guess, it looks like the jaw bone. anyone know for sure?


 * It's in the neck, at the base of the tongue. -- Dominus 13:12, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

Can someone (with more expertise/authority) review and add the following: "The hyoid bone is unique to humans. As the tongue attaches to the hyoid, it is considered a necessary anatomy for human's complex verbal communication. What is this bone's function in language? It seems that someone should point out the functionality of this bone.  The "Discovery" channel discussed this bone in showing that the Neanderthal could talk as a result of the shape of this bone. Does anyone know more about this?67.35.126.14 04:47, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
 * perhaps the shape is unique in humans, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure the bone is found in other mammals, such as dogs. Provophys 23:23, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
 * The shape of every bone in every species skeleton is unique to that species. :-) - ∅  ( ∅ ), 22:43, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

I am wondering about the statement that it "is the only bone in the skeleton not articulated to any other bone." What about the patella? Yes, it has a ligament that extends to the tibia, but the hyoid bone has ligaments between it and the styloid processes. Or are you saying the patella articulates with the femur (which it does)? I have another question: is the hyoid bone a sesamoid bone, like the patella? Did it form through intramembranous ossification? Provophys 23:23, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

The hyoid bone (Lingual Bone) is a bone in the human neck
Only the human neck? I've heard that, at least, cats have it too. --Taraborn 16:15, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I moved the word "human" from "neck" to "skeleton". (...is a bone in the neck, and is the only bone in the human skeleton not articulated...) Other species have this bone, so it's not only in the human neck that it can be found, and humans are one of the few species of mammal that don't have a baculum (another "isolated" bone), which is why it makes sense to describe it as the only bone in the human skeleton that isn't articulated to any other bone. - ∅  ( ∅ ), 22:54, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

hyoid bone connected to styloid process by stylohyoid ligament
This connection is mentioned by 'lesser cornu' (of hyoid bone) Wiki article, to which hyoid bone is cross-referenced. A direct mention and cross-reference from 'hyoid bone' article to the 'stylohyoid ligament' Wiki article itself would obviously be in order. This does require at least some qualification of the [hyoid bone]"not articulated to any other bone" statement. Terminologica Anatomica lists stylohyoid ligament under cranial syndesmoses, and as such is a joint and technically an articulation. The stylohyoid ligament may provide no more functional 'articulation' (i.e., direct or dictate the manner in which any muscle attachment moves the hyoid bone) than the attached muscles provide to each other, or that provided by other connective tissue attached to the hyoid bone, so it is hardly an articulation in the manner of a synovial joint (nor in the 'immovable' manner of other fibrous joints), but nevertheless it is an articulation. So the stylohyoid ligament should be mentioned in the hyoid bone article, and I think the "not articulated to any other bone" statement qualified in light of this. I don't think it should be removed, as to my understanding the hyoid bone functions as if it is not articulated to any other bone, but at this point I am not quite sure what to say in the article, and so offer this instead. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.11.69.147 (talk) 20:02, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

In other animals
At least some other mammals (dogs, horses, cattle) have a series of hyoid bones known as the hyoid apparatus: The Stylohyoid, Epihyoid, Ceratohyoid, Basihyoid and Thyrohyoid. Apart from the basihyoid they are all paired. I imagine the basihyoid is homologous to the body of the hyoid bone in humans and the stylohyoid and thyrohyoid bones are homologous to the ligaments which take these names in humans. I don't know whether this is the general scheme throughout mammals or how this compares to other vertibrates, so could someone find this out? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.111.185.4 (talk) 17:19, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Following the example of mandible and human mandible (and many others), anatomy pages can be divided into a subarticle dedicated to the human structure and a general parent article where other anatomy of other animals goes... Lesion  ( talk ) 20:48, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
 * The human hyoid consists of two successive gill arches, incorporating at least one basibranchial (basihyal) and two successive hypobranchials which form the greater and lesser cornu. The remaining ligaments include the remaining three elements of the fish branchial arch system (cerato-, epi-, and pharyngeo- branchials).
 * As far as the movement of the page, the "hyoid" vs "human hyoid" seems appropriate to me.HCA (talk) 19:36, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Alternatively, as per WP:MEDMOS, we could treat the whole page as referring to the human structure and reserve a section for Other animals which could be as extensive as people wish it to be... "may include comparative anatomy for discussing non-human anatomy in articles that are predominantly human-based" Lesion  ( talk ) 16:06, 3 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Personally, I disagree with that policy, and have for a long time. Without a comparative context being front-and-center (rather than tacked on to the bottom of the page), the page becomes little more than pile of dry, unconnected factoids.  It would be like having torque go to a page about car engines - yes, technically that's what most people use it for and are interested in it for, but the fundamental concept goes deeper.  This is especially true for the hyoid, the mere existence of which is an utter mystery if you don't understand its paleontological and embryological origins (the latter only intelligible in light of the former).  Plus, the tremendous diversity of hyoids in tetrapods makes it very ill-suited to this policy - I can see it maybe for femur, where they're all pretty much the same, give or take a bit, but to make the human hyoid the centerpiece is like making the human coccyx the main page for tail.HCA (talk) 18:15, 3 March 2013 (UTC)
 * With respect, it is mentioned in policy (albeit policy of a wikiproject which may have biased emphasis towards human disease and anatomy) and therefore is still a valid option. Perhaps discuss on the policy talk page if you want. I think either option could be appropriate in this case. I support the separation of hyoid bone and human hyoid bone only if both articles were given enough content, and for this we need willing editors. I am happy to build the human anatomy page if no-one else is available, but my guess is this will already have more content to build on. Content for anatomy of various other species tends to be added bit by bit, and by many different authors as people have their own special interests. The question is, is there enough content to justify a general hyoid bone article once all the human anatomy is removed? Lesion  ( talk ) 16:17, 4 March 2013 (UTC)

Proposed merge
A merge has been proposed between Greater cornu and Lesser cornu and this article (not by me).--LT910001 (talk) 05:42, 20 January 2014 (UTC) I have completed the merge. --LT910001 (talk) 02:43, 26 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Support. It gives greater context and quality to the article if the content on those respective pages is merged into this article. --LT910001 (talk) 05:42, 20 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Yes, no need for separate articles on these parts of the hyoid imo. Lesion  ( talk ) 10:03, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

The meaning of this is not clear.
"Due to its position, the hyoid bone is not susceptible to easy fracture. In a suspected case of murder, a fractured hyoid strongly indicates throttling or strangulation in an adult. However, this is not necessarily the case in children and adolescents, where the hyoid bone is still flexible as ossification is yet to be completed."

Is the author of this still around to explain what is intended ? The final sentence: "However, this is not necessarily the case in children and adolescents, where the hyoid bone is still flexible as ossification is yet to be completed." Would make sense if it were preceded by "Strangulation usually fractures the hyoid", or some such. It looks as though the author has become muddled. Surely a flexible bone would be more difficult to fracture, so when a fracture is found in children, it is particularly indicative of strangulation, which is the opposite of what has been written.

Is this intended: "Due to its position, the hyoid bone is not susceptible to easy fracture. In a suspected case of murder, a fractured hyoid strongly indicates throttling or strangulation in an adult. However, in children and adolescents, where the hyoid bone is still flexible as ossification is yet to be completed, strangulation is less likely to fracture the hyoid". G4OEP. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.37.54.83 (talk) 07:36, 15 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Yes, your second version is correct and more clear. HCA (talk) 13:48, 15 August 2016 (UTC)

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