A 27-year-old woman is admitted to the emergency department after she was thrown from a motor scooter. Radiographic evaluation reveals a type I Lefort fracture and comminuted fracture of the mandible and TMJ. Despite reconstructive surgery, the patient develops hyperacusis (sensitivity to loud sounds) due to facial nerve paralysis. Which of the following muscles is most likely paralyzed?

Both the stapedius and tensor tympani normally function to dampen movements of the middle ear ossicles, thereby muting sound and preventing hyperacusis. The stapedius would be the source of hyperacusis in this problem because it receives its innervation from the facial nerve. The tensor tympani receives motor innervation from the mandibular division of the trigeminal nerve. The posterior belly of the digastric and the stylohyoid receive innervation from the facial nerve, but their paralysis would not cause hyperacusis. Damaged innervation of the cricothyroid, which is supplied by the external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve, would not result in hyperacusis.