Gallbladder Channel
Meeting of the Ears
听会Tīng HuìAnatomical location
In the depression anterior to the intertragic notch and posterior to the condyle of the mandible, directly below SI19, with the mouth open.
Main function
Benefits the ears, eliminates Wind.
Therapeutic indications
- Deafness
- tinnitus
- ear pain
- otitis
- facial paralysis
- toothache
- trismus
- jaw dislocation
Name and classical tradition
Tinghui, 听会, combines 听, "to hear," and 会, "meeting" or "confluence": the place where hearing converges. The name is transparent and matches the anatomy, since the point lies in front of the tragus, found with the mouth open, in the area the classics associated with the ear. It shares this auditory vocabulary with its neighbor on the Small Intestine channel, SI19, the "palace of hearing."
Secondary sources attribute it to the Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion), although the literal citation has not been located. The reference works list a small family of alternative names for it: 听呵, 听河, and 听诃, nearly homophonous variants in which the second character changes, and 后关, "posterior barrier." It is a clear case of oral and written transmission producing graphic variants without changing the identity of the point.
