Inflammation of the cochlea, the spiral-shaped inner ear structure responsible for hearing.
From Greek 'cochlis' (spiral, snail shell) + '-itis' (inflammation), describing inflammation of this snail-shaped ear structure.
The cochlea was named because its shape really does look like a snail shell—so ear infections affecting it get the medical term that literally means 'snail-inflammation,' which is both poetic and anatomically precise.
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