“External auditory exostoses, also known as surfer’s ear, are benign tumours of the external auditory canal. They form primarily as a result of environmental factors, including recurrent exposure to cold water (below 19°C) or cold air, with a prevalence in surfers ranging from 38% to 73.5%. The prevalence and severity of exostoses are dependent on […]
Tag: ear
The Gendering of the Ear in Early Modern England (new study)
“While critics discuss the link between female speech and sexual looseness, and silence and chastity, many have overlooked the prerequisite for obedience – hearing and its agent, the ear. The link between the ear and vagina is often ignored because of the proneness to perceive ears as passive orifices (Kilgour 131; Woodbridge 256). However, ears […]
‘The Man in the Ear’ (a fresh look)
It was back in the 1950’s that Dr Paul Nogier of Lyon, France, noticed that it’s possible to superimpose an image of a human fetus onto one of the human ear [see dwg.] This discovery led him to develop his theories of Auriculotherapy which he later described in his book ‘The Man In The Ear’ […]
Head-Shaking Research — Ejecting Water From the Ear Canals
Ejecting water from a person’s ear canals is potentially thrilling, for fluid dynamicists and perhaps for the person. New research on the how and why will be presented at a meeting in November: “Acceleration induced water removal from ear canals,” Hosung Kang, Katelee Averett, and Sunghwan Jung, paper (Abstract D5.00007) to be presented at the […]
Ear gauging – and surgical reversal techniques
“There is an ever increasing market for surgical repair of gauged ears.” informs an article in The American Journal of Cosmetic Surgery Vol. 32, No. 4, 2015. If you haven’t come across the concept of ‘gauged ears’ before, the authors provide a short explanation and historical context: “Ear gauging, also known as ‘ear plugging’, can […]
Delivering sarcasm? Which ear to use?
Q. If you’re going to make a sarcastic remark to someone, which of their ears should be targeted to elicit the swiftest response? As a result of a recent experimental study, a research team from the Department of Psychology, Washburn University, US, the Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, US, and the Department of Psychology, […]
The role of flapping elephant ears in heat dissipation
Elephants are big, and they get hot. Especially in Africa. Thus, from the elephant’s point of view, there’s sometimes an urgent necessity to dissipate excess heat. Some investigators have suggested that flapping their large ears (strictly, their ‘pinnae’) could provide a significant heat-loss mechanism. (e.g. Buss, I. O., and Estes, J. A., 1971, ‘The Functional […]
The destructive effect of spectacle handles
This illustration demonstrates “the destructive effect of spectacle handles” for computer programs designed to automatically detect and measure the shape of a person’s ear. From one point of view, this shows that you are acting unfairly if you wear eyeglasses to an airport or bank or any other place where you are likely to be […]
Accounting for accommodation in a one-legged two-eared eared grebe
The title of this study says “grebes” [plural], but the story involves a single grebe [singular]. That single grebe does, as the title implies, have a single [one] leg: “Ecological Constraints and Phenotypic Accommodation in One-legged Eared Grebes,” Joseph R. Jehl Jr., The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 125(4), 2013, pp. 829-832. (Thanks to investigator Adrian […]
How to remove an eraser from an ear
In this video, Professor Larry B. Mellick, MD, of Georgia Regents University, explains and demonstrates how to remove an eraser from a person’s ear: Professor Mellick’s biography remarks of him: “His current academic ranks include being Professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics. His medical training was accomplished in the United States Army where he attained […]