Dr. Konstantina Stankovic

Sometimes in the clinic, if people don't have a hearing aid and they are really hard of hearing and they don't

know how to lip read, and they don't want to be reading what's being written, that's what they do.

And it really makes a difference.

Exactly.

Yeah, it's vestigial.

Some people indeed can do it.

It's not common.

And as far as we know, it doesn't convey any advantage in modern world to human hearing.

I don't think that's been studied.

I certainly haven't come across data to support that.

In human body, things tend to be very proportional, and they grow with time.

Children tend to reach their adult ear size around age 10.

So, for example, those who are born without the outer ear altogether, that's called microtia, we can make it, but the timing of surgery has to be...

and conduct it appropriately so that you don't give them too small of an ear if you operate too early.

Absolutely.

Really, the brain has evolved to perceive and manage sensory inputs.

And sound is one of these sensory inputs, and it's critical for emotional well-being.

We have thus far talked about the periphery, what happens in the inner ear and how those signals are then transmitted all the way to the brain.

Well, there are numerous relay stations from the ear to the brain, to the cortex, and they are in the brain.

brain stem and midbrain, all the way to the cortex.