auditory meatus [L, audire, to hear, meatus, passage] , 1. the external auditory meatus, a tubelike channel of the external ear extending from the auricle to the tympanum of the middle ear. 2. the internal auditory meatus, a short channel extending from the petrous part of the temporal bone to the fundus near the vestibule. It contains the eighth cranial nerve. Also called auditory canal.
