Do earlobes have a purpose?

This entry is part 30 of 40 in the series Deep Questions

Earrings aren’t good enough for ya? Maybe gauging is a higher purpose? If not, well, you’ll just have to accept that earlobes are a vestigial structure, an evolutionary hiccup, a leftover bit of flesh that has to make do with getting punctured for fun.The external ear itself has the valuable function of collecting and directing sound into the inner ear. The parts of the ear you can see without a doctor’s help are called the pinna; those curvy bits conduct sound vibrations in the air down into the tympanic cavity. The shape of the pinna helps your ear and brain figure out what direction sound is coming from. But the lobule — the part hanging down — isn’t any help. In fact, some people are born lobeless because of recessive genes, and this doesn’t seem to affect their hearing.

So, if you got ’em, we say flaunt ’em.

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B. John

B. John Masters writes about democracy, moral responsibility, and everyday Stoicism at deep.mastersfamily.org. A lifelong United Methodist committed to social justice, he explores how faith, ethics, and civic life intersect—and how ordinary people can live out justice, mercy, and truth in public life. A records and information management expert, Masters has lived in the Piedmont,NC, Dayton, OH, Greensboro, NC and Tampa, FL, and is a proud Appalachian State Alum.