Ossification of the hyoid bone during childhood.

Normal ossification of the hyoid bone was studied on the basis of postpartum radiographs of 10 stillborn children and radiographs of the cervical spine or the lateral neck of 86 children ranging in age from newborn to 16 years old. None of the patients was suspected of having any abnormality of skeletal ossification. Ossification of the hyoid was seen only after 30 weeks' gestation. The body of the hyoid was ossified in all infants older than 4 months, and the greater cornua were ossified in all those older than 6 months. Ossification of the lesser cornua did not appear in children less than 15 years of age. Normal measurements for the body of the hyoid and the greater cornua were determined.