Does Ear Shape or Size Affect Your Hearing Ability?

Shape

Researcher, Dr Trapeau concluded in 2018 that changing the outer shape of your ear actually has the ability to change the way you hear. He found that adding a piece of silicone moulded to the participant’s ear meant that they heard the sound differently and said that it was coming from a different place to where the sound was originating from. However, when the testers used the silicone for a week and came back for testing, their results were back to normal which means that our brain adapts to our ear shape to help us hear better. So does this mean that the shape of our ears can change the way we hear?

A lot of tests have shown that the answer to this question is quite technical which has a lot to do with neuron activity, sound waves and other factors. However, the research study conducted by Dr Trapeau does, in fact, show that the shape of our ears can affect the way we hear, especially the way we experience spatial awareness.

Size

But it’s not quite that easy to change your ear shape which means the next variable to consider is the size of your ears. So do bigger ears help you hear better?

Essentially, the outside of the ear is called the pinna which serves to protect the inner ear and also guide sounds into the ear canal. However, the size of your ear doesn’t necessarily mean that you have better hearing. After all, what gives you the ability to hear are the little hairs in the inner part of your ear that send signals to your brain when sound waves interact and vibrate with the three tiny bones in the middle ear.

If you are interested in learning more about hearing, or you need to get your hearing checked, consider going to a clinic that specialises in providing hearing tests. Attune Hearing is Australia’s only hearing healthcare provider and has professional audiologists that perform tests throughout their 60+ clinics nationwide. Book a hearing test at Attune Hearing today!