Observations of external ear--an Indian study

Abstract

Somatoscopy of the external ear provides a general idea of the shape of an ear, form of the helix, presence (or absence) of Darwin's tubercle and of the attachment of an ear lobe to a cheek, etc. It is of great importance not only to physical anthropologists but also to plastic surgeons, physicians and forensic scientists. There is no detailed somatoscopic study of the ear morphology concerning the entire Indian subcontinent. Hence, in the present study an attempt has been made to report the frequency of various somatoscopic features of various parts of the auricle of adult males and females who live in the central region of India. In both sexes oval-shaped ears and normally rolled helix were most common. The preauricular region was found to be clear with very few cases of the occurrence of pits and sinuses. Free lobules were more frequent among females than males but it was vice versa for Darwin's tubercle. The position of the ear's upper edge was most commonly located at the eyebrow tail while its lower edge was located at an upper lip level in both sexes. Hypoplastic lobules were noted in one-fifth of males but were very rare among females. Very few cases of lop ear, preauricular appendage and preauricular pit were observed. Some of these somatoscopic features act as soft biometric traits that improve the performance of the primary biometric system of personal identification. Somatoscopy of external ear acts as an aid to surgeons while reconstructing deformed ears and also helps physicians in detecting anomalies, for example, Edward's, cleft lip/cleft palate syndromes.