Different ears

Different ears

Do you have different ears? Do you ask yourself: Why do my ears look different?

Your ears differ

Why do I have different ears?

Your ears are not alike. Nobody has two ears that are completely alike. Not 100% alike. They always differ in how they look.

It is the same with, for example, your hands and feet. They are also not alike either.

Some people have ears which are more different than others. And some have ears that look completely different. Some have conditions like Atresia and Microtia where the external ear canal is missing or the outer ear looks abnormal. This all has to do with our genes.

The ability to hear differ

Your ability to hear also differs. You do not have exactly the same ability to hear on both of your ears. The hearing level will almost always differ a bit. You can also have a hearing loss in one or both ears. This is called a unilateral hearing loss or a bilateral hearing loss, respectively. If the ability to hear is very different in your ears you, have an asymmetric hearing loss.

Your ears hear differently

But did you know that your right ear hears differently than your left ear?    

Sing to your left ear and speak to your right.

Your right ear is better than your left ear at receiving sounds from speech, whereas your left ear is more sensitive to sounds of music and song, according to American researchers behind a study of the hearing in 3,000 newborns.

It has long been known that the right and left halves of the brain register sounds differently because of differences in the brain cells in each side. But the results from the study indicate that the ears play a much more important part than previously believed.

"We always assumed that our left and right ears worked exactly the same way. As a result, we tended to think it didn't matter which ear was impaired in a person. Now we see that it may have profound implications for the individual's speech and language development," said the leader of the study, Yvonne Sininger of University of California at Los Angeles.

The scientists inserted tiny probes into the babies' ears that emitted two different types of sounds and measured the amplified vibrations.

In order to understand our hearing completely, it is important to learn about the parts and functions of the human ear. And read our articles about the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear.