Summary: Humans have vestigial ear muscles that once helped our ancestors focus on sounds. New research shows these muscles still activate when we strain to hear in noisy environments. Scientists used ...

Some people experience fluttering sounds in the ears that come and go, while others may hear a continuous sound. Causes include tinnitus, dysfunction of tissues in the ear, and high blood pressure.

It often uses old structures (or ancient genes) for new jobs. The mammalian ear is a perfect example. Over the eons, the jawbones of our fish ancestors became three separate small bones that ...