Ears are strange, not only in their convoluted appearance but especially because, despite their extraordinary value as hearing organisms—and both hearing and sight are highly esteemed senses—they have very little aesthetic value, unlike the eyes. Utility high, like eyes; aesthetics low, unlike eyes. There is a complete disjunction between these two values. Indeed, the nose (think cosmetic surgery), the mouth, and the eyes receive far more attention than the ears, even though the senses of taste and smell are valued far less than hearing.

Why? Possibly because ears are off to the side of the head, unlike the other organs of sight, taste, and smell, and often invisible under hair; but they are compensated by status symbols of rebellion or wealth as they may be pierced by safety pins, gold or diamonds. We do not have sensuous ears as we do lips, nor twinkling ears as we do eyes, nor cruel or generous ears as we do mouths. Ears are not very expressive, except for blushing.

But they may be very humiliating, especially for school children. In schools, the teasing and bullying of children with “dumbo” or “elephant” ears may be disastrous for their body image, then their self-image, then their school performance. This process can be reversed by cosmetic surgery. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (2023) reports 53,095 otioplasties in 2020 at an average cost of $3,736 for a total of over $198 million. The psychology of ears and the economy of ears are therefore of immense importance.

Both the numbers of procedures and the amount of money invested are minuscule compared to the over two million surgical procedures for a total investment of $16.7 billion. Nor do they compare with the top surgery: noses (rhinoplasties) with over 350,000 at over $5,000 each for a total investment of almost $2 billion.

The Problems with Hearing

Hearing, like the other four senses, is not to be trusted entirely, for many excellent reasons. One is that we tend to hear what we want to hear or expect to hear, which may not be what was said. Every teacher has experienced that. “That’s not what I said!”

Second, sound waves may be distorted by other sound waves: people talking, music, thunder. So words may be misheard.

Third, lies. This is a particular problem these days with fake news, half-truths, deliberate misinformation, and disinformation, as well as downright lies. "Trust, but verify" used to be the motto. But trust in others and in national institutions is declining. "Fact-check everything" seems to be the new advice.

Finally, one may say of gossip, slander, or a confession: “I didn’t hear that!” “Hear what?” Right.

Then again, about 10 million people are deaf or hard of hearing, with about one million of these functionally deaf. There are various coping options: hearing aids, cochlear implants, sign language, and lip-reading can all help; and there is a community of Deaf culture.

Being or becoming deaf can be problematic. One deaf person narrated one narrow escape. While he was walking with his wife, a police officer yelled “Freeze!” He didn’t hear him, of course. The officer drew his gun and his wife yelled “He’s deaf. He can’t hear you!”

The same man did admit that deafness did have its advantages. On the flight to our conference, a crying baby had driven the other passengers to distraction. He had a lovely quiet flight and smiled.

The Many Roles of Ears

Ears are not just for hearing, but also for balance, temperature control—minimal for humans but important for elephants—status display (above), emotional expression via blushing, and sport, with the cauliflower ears of boxers and rugby players. In the past, ears have been thought to be indices of character. Aristotle wrote:

"Of ears, some are fine, some are shaggy, and some are of medium texture: the last kind are best for hearing… the medium sort are indications of the best disposition, while the large and outstanding ones indicate a tendency to irrelevant talk or chattering." (History of Animals 492)

Face-reading persisted through the Middle Ages to the present, but ears were ignored by Johann Lavater in his monumental illustrated “Essays on Physiognomy” (1775-8). This deficit was remedied by an article in Strand Magazine (1893: vol. 6) entitled “A Chapter on Ears” by Anon, fully illustrated with photographs, purporting to link their characters to the profiles of their ears. This is the art and science of aurology, sadly neglected, the author thought.

That author may have been Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes told Watson in the case of “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box” (1892): “There is no part of the human body which varies so much as the human ear. Each ear is as a rule quite distinctive, and differs from all other ears.”

Then Samuel and Anna Cherry published Otyognomy: or The External Ear as an Index of Character (1900). Their physiognomics equated human and animal ears as their indices, though few would probably follow them now.

Soon after this, the French criminologist, Alphonse Bertillon, now remembered as an advocate of finger-printing for criminal identification purposes, had advocated photographing ears for the same purpose:

"There are no two identical ears and… if the ear corresponds that is a necessary and sufficient proof that the identity does too ‘except in the case of identical twins.’" (In Ginsburg, 1988:117)

The ear appears again in Ian Fleming’s Bond novels, probably as a joke. In Casino Royale (1953) the British Secret Service describe the villain, Le Chiffre, as: “Ears small, with large lobes, indicating Jewish blood.” It doesn’t, of course, but the “Fleming Ear Syndrome,” as Mordecai Richler called it, appears again with Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Oddly, despite the immense social significance of ears, they have not played commensurate roles in history: Peter struck off the ear of a servant of Caiphas; a Spanish officer cut the ear off a British captain, providing an excuse for the War of Jenkins Ear (1739-41); Van Gogh cut off his right ear to give to his girlfriend. (What was she supposed to do with it? Put it on her mantle-piece and show it off to her friends: “Look what Vinny gave me. Isn’t he sweet?”)

John Paul Getty was abducted in Rome in 1973 and the Mafia cut off his ear to support their ransom demand. Mike Tyson bit off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear in a boxing match in 1997. Other than that, ears seem to have far less social value than their neighbours, eyes and noses.

Overall, however, there is more to our ears than just hearing, or mishearing, both historically as character signifiers and today for status display, emotional expression, occupational indicators, balance, mutilation, economics, and psychology.