The incus receives vibrations from the malleus, to which it is connected laterally, and transmits these to the stapes medially.

The incus is the second of three ossicles, very small bones in the middle ear which act to transmit sound.

It is shaped like an anvil, and has a long and short crus extending from the body, which articulates with the malleus.

[4][5] The first brief written description of the incus was by Berengario da Carpi in his Commentaria super anatomia Mundini (1521).

[6] Andreas Vesalius, in his De humani corporis fabrica,[7] was the first to compare the second element of the ossicles to an anvil, thereby giving it the name incus.