The auricular muscles, which enabled our distant ancestors to move their ears for better hearing, activate when people try to ...

A muscle that we thought served no purpose beyond enabling some people to wiggle their ears is actually active when we are ...

“The exact reason these became vestigial is difficult to tell, as our ancestors lost this ability about 25 million years ago, ...

This muscle, known as the auricularis posterior, has been largely dormant in humans for centuries but shows signs of ...

To test the functioning of the muscles, researchers recruited 20 people without hearing problems. They used electromyograph, ...

Vestigial ear muscles activate during focused listening, revealing a hidden link to our auditory past and evolution.

An ear wiggler himself, Schröer has collected stories of remarkable ear abilities, such as people who feel their ears moving toward a sound and people who use their ear movements in daily life. “They ...

"These muscles, particularly the superior auricular muscle, exhibit increased activity during effortful listening tasks. This suggests that these muscles are engaged not merely as a reflex but ...

Tens of millions of years ago, our primate ancestors responded to noises in much the same way many other mammals do, pricking their ears and deftly turning them towards the sound's source.

"These muscles, particularly the superior auricular muscle, show increased activity during challenging listening tasks," explained Andreas Schröer of Saarland University. Participants were asked ...

“These muscles, particularly the superior auricular muscle, exhibit increased activity during effortful listening tasks.” The study, published in the journal Frontiers in ...