One of the perks of working with an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) doctor, is that I get to see a lot of cool cases.  For instance, today a woman was scheduled who had a large perforation in her eardrum.  The perforation was so large that, with the help of a microscope, I was able to look into her ear and see the middle ear space.  The middle ear space contains both the ossicles and the Eustachian tube.  Usually, when I look into an ear, I see as far as the eardrum.  Typically the eardrum is an opaque disc; the Eustachian tube and ossicles are not visible.  I was able to see these landmarks in an actual, live person and not just in pictures.  Though I know the patient would have been happier to have a whole, healthy eardrum, for an audiology nerd like me, this was a very interesting thing to experience.