Scientists Uncover Surprising Function of Muscle Once Thought Inactive

Ever get the feeling your ears are doing something when you strain to hear? Turns out, they are.

A new study in Frontiers in Neuroscience suggests that the tiny, long-forgotten muscles behind the human ear may not be as useless as we thought.

These muscles, known as the auricularis posterior, were once used by our ancestors to swivel their ears like radar dishes.

Auricularis posterior lies just behind the ear

Scientists Speculate Possible Uses

Over time, evolution shut them down—until now.

Researchers at Saarland University found that when people focus on difficult listening tasks, these muscles subtly activate, possibly helping us fine-tune sound perception.

“There are three major muscles linking the ear to the skull and scalp,” said lead researcher Andreas Schroer.

“The superior auricular muscle, in particular, becomes more active when listening gets tough.”

Scientists believe ear muscle activity could help diagnose auditory processing disorders or even improve hearing aids by measuring listening effort.

So, while we may never wiggle our ears like cats, evolution may have left us with a hidden listening boost after all.

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