Conversation so far:
where are the ossicles located in the ear
The ossicles are three bones in either middle ear.
what purpose do the ossicles serve
They ossicles serve to transmit sounds from the air to the fluid-filled labyrinth.
what happens if the ossicles were gone
The absence of the auditory ossicles would constitute a moderate-to-severe hearing loss.

Question: what does the term mean
Self-contained rewrite: what does the term ossicles mean