Anthropometric Study of the Pinna (Auricle) among Adult Nigerians Resident in Maiduguri Metropolis

The ear is an important and under-recognized defining feature of the face whose shape conveys information about age and sex that is clearly difficult to characterize. This study was designed to generate anthropometric, normative cross-sectional data on the adult ear auricle in Nigerians. It was also aimed at showing the morphological and aesthetic differences between males and females; as well as changes in ear morphology with age. A total of 217 adult Nigerians (aged 18-65 years) who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled into the study. Standardized measurements of the ear pinna (total ear height, lobular height and lobular width) were undertaken. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 10.0. The mean total ear height and mean lobular height across the cohort were 5.60 and 1.11 cm, respectively, while the average lobular width measured 1.35 cm. The results indicates that the mean total ear height and mean lobular height were higher in the males than in the females while the females had a higher mean lobular width of 1.37 cm than the mean lobular width of 1.33 cm in males. There were increases in earlobe height and lobular height but a decrease in lobular width with advancing age. This study has shown that age related changes in ear morphology do exist in Nigerians and the changes were with respect to sex from adolescence to the age groups of 41-45 years. But further study to relate the results of our present study to the height of individual and some facial/cranial anthropometric parameters is going on.