Breakthrough Discovery: Scientists Uncover Surprising Role of ‘Useless’ Muscles in the Human Body

New research has revealed something surprising about our ear muscles. Once thought to be just remnants of our evolutionary past, these muscles actually play a role when we’re trying hard to listen.

The auricular muscles help change the shape of our outer ear, which scientists believed became useless long ago as humans adapted to better visual and vocal communication. But this new study shows they activate when we focus on sounds around us, especially in noisy settings.

Andreas Schröer, the lead researcher from Saarland University in Germany, explained, “There are three main muscles connecting the outer ear to the skull. They’re important for wiggling our ears.” He noted that during tasks that required careful listening, these muscles, especially the superior auricular muscle, showed increased activity.

Published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, this study demonstrates that these muscles are not just reflexes but part of how we concentrate on difficult auditory tasks. To find out more, researchers tested twenty participants without hearing issues. They used a device called electromyography to track muscle activity while participants listened intently to audiobooks amid distracting podcasts.

During the tests, participants endured various levels of difficulty. In the easiest scenario, the podcast was quieter than the audiobook. As the challenge increased, both the audiobook and distractions became more intense.

Afterward, participants answered questions about the audiobook content and rated how hard they found listening. The results showed that the auricular muscles reacted differently based on the trial difficulty. While the posterior auricular muscles responded to changes in sound direction, the superior auricular muscles were more active during tougher listening tasks.

This means our ear muscles might give us insights into how hard we’re trying to listen. However, the researchers are still figuring out if this muscle activity actually improves our hearing. Dr. Schröer shared, “The movements might be too tiny to notice any real benefit, but the outer ear still helps us locate sounds.”

More research is needed to fully understand these findings and explore their practical uses in the future.