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Ear muscle we thought humans didn’t use actually activates when people listen hard

formdissolve

formdissolve

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www.frontiersin.org

Ear muscle we thought humans didn’t use — except for wiggling our ears — actually activates when people listen hard

The auricular muscles, which helped our distant ancestors move their ears to improve hearing quality, activated when people were trying to listen to competing s
www.frontiersin.org www.frontiersin.org

“The exact reason these became vestigial is difficult to tell, as our ancestors lost this ability about 25 million years ago,” Schröer said. “One possible explanation could be that the evolutionary pressure to move the ears ceased because we became much more proficient with our visual and vocal systems."

Edit: Original source
 
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formdissolve said:
as our ancestors lost this ability about 25 million years ago
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Then I'm at least 25 million years old.

Clickbaity and misleading publication.
 
formdissolve said:
I wonder if it's these muscles that strain when people swap cables out :)
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Infact that's exactly what happens. These muscles activate involuntarily when you're in heightened state of attention or alert. Which is what people are when they're trying out a new toy with the expectation of it being good.

It changes ear geometry and with it the physical sound we hear. It really does a physical thing that's directly perceivable.
 
Kal Rubinson said:
The nature of that perception depends on one's expectations.
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Perception bias plays a role as always, of course. But the physical change is undeniable. You can easily test this yourself: just pull back your forehead skin and ears voluntarily while listening. The change in sound is indeed perceivable. Or just pull your ears up and back with your hands, which is about the same.

Ear geometry and shape plays a heavy role in shaping incoming sound for our brains to interpret. The folds and bends introduce frequency dependent phase shifts by which our brains calculate directivity for example. A shift by even half a centimeter changes that behaviour considerably.

These are physical things that are independent of psychological bias - which then gets added on top of course. But it's a real change in the incoming signal.
 
Do people here actively use those tympanic membrane (eardrum) tightening muscles? Most become aware of them when they spasm and cause that fluttering sound in one ear, and wikipedia says that having voluntary control of these muscles may be rare. I doubt that, most people probably use them knowingly when they're in a car and someone else is about to slam a door shut. The effect of it is the same as with the muscle's original purpose - it tightens the eardrum to protect it from excess vibration, a loud sound or another sudden change of air pressure.
 
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¥€$ said:
Do people here actively use those tympanic membrane (eardrum) tightening muscles? Most become aware of them when they spasm and cause that fluttering sound in one ear, and wikipedia says that having voluntary control of these muscles may be rare. I doubt that, most people probably use them when they're in a car and someone else is about to slam a door shut. The effect of it is the same as with the muscle's original purpose - it tightens the eardrum to protect it from excess vibration, a loud sound or another sudden change of air pressure.
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Actors.
 
¥€$ said:
What do they need the muscles for?
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One is expressions obviously.They go to extremes for that.
They train to have control over forehead,eyebrows,etc.Yoga's lion expression/exercise is one of the mandatory exercises for example.

The other is age,tightening your skin to the back makes you look younger,and yes they used it a lot for that too before botox which is still a very controversial topic between them.

Example:

 
AdamG said:
Actors - What do they need muscles for? - Cashing checks.

Apparently it was a bad joke on my part. :facepalm:
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I was confused about what

Sokel said:
Actors.
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had to do with my question in

¥€$ said:
Do people here actively use those tympanic membrane (eardrum) tightening muscles? Most become aware of them when they spasm and cause that fluttering sound in one ear, and wikipedia says that having voluntary control of these muscles may be rare. I doubt that, most people probably use them knowingly when they're in a car and someone else is about to slam a door shut. The effect of it is the same as with the muscle's original purpose - it tightens the eardrum to protect it from excess vibration, a loud sound or another sudden change of air pressure.
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Ropeburn said:
Perception bias plays a role as always, of course. But the physical change is undeniable. You can easily test this yourself: just pull back your forehead skin and ears voluntarily while listening. The change in sound is indeed perceivable. Or just pull your ears up and back with your hands, which is about the same.

Ear geometry and shape plays a heavy role in shaping incoming sound for our brains to interpret. The folds and bends introduce frequency dependent phase shifts by which our brains calculate directivity for example. A shift by even half a centimeter changes that behaviour considerably.

These are physical things that are independent of psychological bias - which then gets added on top of course. But it's a real change in the incoming signal.
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Of course but the perceived (real) change has nothing to do with the signal source, only with the receptive mechanisms.
 
Kal Rubinson said:
Of course but the perceived (real) change has nothing to do with the signal source, only with the receptive mechanisms.
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That's the whole point. Excited people physically change the way their ears receive sound, but (usually) aren't aware of it and then attribute it to some amazingly expensive speaker cables or whatever. They hear a real, physical change - but it's still themselves doing it by literally shifting their ear geometry. They say "oh it sounds more clear now" and they're right - they're just wrong about the cause. :D
 
There's no way for two people to hear something in exactly the same way. We have different ears and brains.
 
Lekha said:
There's no way for two people to hear something in exactly the same way. We have different ears and brains.
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I was wondering why most people find a Steinway Model D sounds better than a cheap upright. It must be a fluke then.
 
NTK said:
I was wondering why most people find a Steinway Model D sounds better than a cheap upright. It must be a fluke then.
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That some people hear better from a sound-emitting device doesn't mean that someone else hears that sound with your ears.
 
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