About one in five people can wiggle their ears—while the rest watch in non-wiggly envy. But what makes this skill possible for some and impossible for others? Ear movement is controlled by the ...

The posterior auricular muscles reacted to changes in direction, while the superior auricular muscles reacted to the difficulty level of the task.

The muscles helped change the shape of the pinna, or the shell of the ear, funneling sound to the eardrums. The post Study ...

The posterior auricular muscles reacted to changes in direction, while the superior auricular muscles reacted to the difficulty level of the task.

The auricular muscles appear to activate when humans are trying to listen to competing sounds, not just when wiggling the ears. The findings are detailed in a study published January 31 in the ...

This indicates that these ear muscles may provide an objective measure of listening effort. It’s unclear, however, if the muscle activity is directly linked to the effectiveness of hearing.