What's the use for all of the contours found in the outer ear?
959738
It acts as a funnel to funnel sound into the external auditory meatus of the outer ear.
524353
http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ear_ac.htm#ac_images and Click on HAND ACUPUNCTURE half way down the page. Excellent pictures
137267
eye, rib, lip, hip, leg, jaw
708736
Ear Candling is so relaxing it is like sitting by the camp fire and hearing the firwood crackle...very soothing procedure. You have to trust the person doing it or go to someone who has the experience if you have never done this before. \n\nI had really bad allergies and took medication for it til I used the ear candles that cleared mine up for about two years, but I still don't have such bad allergies that I had. Oh and my hearing was so much better and I didn't realize I was so plugged up. My family rather me do it than go to the doctors and have the water used in their ear. I would consult with your doctor before doing such just so they know what you interested in doing and why.
305120
I assume you know that the ear is composed of the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. Here’s the gist of it:\n\nSound Source  Sound Medium (Air)  Ear (Auditory Canal)  Eardrum Vibrates [Acoustic Energy]  Ossicles Bones Vibrate [Mechanical Energy]  Fluids in the Cochlea Vibrate [Hydrolic Energy]  Auditory Nerve (8th Cranial Nerve) [Nerve Impulses]   Brain (the vestibular centers (nuclei) in the Brainstem)  1) Ipsilateral Cochlear Nucleus  2) Superior Olivary Nucleus  3) Inferior Colliculus Medial Geniculate Nucleus (Sensory Thalamus)  Auditory Cortex (Temporal Lobe).\n\nIn relation to the ‘loud sound’, I assume you mean ASR: Acoustic Startle Reflex:\n\nLoud sounds causes the Stapedius Muscle (which is innervated by the 7th cranial nerve (facial nerve)) to tighten the Stapes (ossicles) in an attempt to ATTENUATE the sound and protect the eardrum. The Acoustic Reflex Arc ascends from the outer ear to the brainstem and then descends via the facial nerves on both sides of the head to innervate the stapedial muscles in both middle ears.\n\nThe ASR Circuit is as follows: Cochlear Nucleus  Ventral Lateral Pons [Brainstem]  Reticular Formation (pons) [Brainstem]  Spinal Motor Neurons (whole body startle).
412029
if your using qtips cool it, your ear needs some wax in it for protection
428214
Cerumen or Earwax, a waxy, yellowish substance that forms in the outer ear and protects the skin in the ear from dust, bacteria, very small insects like mosquitoes, and other harmful agents. Cerumen is secreted by the ceruminous glands, modified sweat glands located in the skin of the outer auditory canal, which extends from the outer part of the ear to the eardrum.\n\nNormally, excess cerumen falls out of the ear on its own, but in some people it may build up and obstruct the ear canal, causing hearing problems, dull pain, and itching. Excessive cerumen buildup can be removed by a physician using a curette, a blunt, spoon-shaped medical instrument. A small vacuum may also be used, and in some cases cerumen is flushed out with warm water. A doctor may recommend an over-the-counter preparation that can help remove excess cerumen.\n\n© 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
911107
To protect the inner ear from invading particles and moisture protection keeping the eardrum (much like the contact lens solution) from drying out and causing discomfort......\n\nYour sister,\nGinger
291389
I wouldn't.  Not only are they ineffective, they're dangerous.  Several cases of burnt inner ears from dripping wax are reported every month.  Most middle ear infections fix themselves, and even when you do need a bit of cleaning, warm water does the trick.  It does NOTHING at all to help your ears, and only poses a risk.  Don't use them, and don't provide them.  They are only a risk.  Several producers are now dealing with regulatory actions against, and some manufacturers in Canada have been banned from marketing them.  They can not be sold in Canada, but some people do still as "entertainment purposes" and the FDA warns they should not be used.
685040
Yes I have , don't be like me.Go to the doctor and get it taken care of .  I now have no hearing and that ear.this is not something to play around with .
181906
Here is some info.  You can find more on the site...\nEar tubes are small tubes made out of plastic or metal that are placed into the ear drum to ventilate the middle ear. The middle ear is that part of the ear between the ear drum and the hard bone surrounding the inner ear. The middle ear is, under normal circumstances, filled with air at the same pressure as the surrounding atmosphere. The pressure is maintained at this normal level by a natural tube called the eustachian tube. When pressure gets greater or less in the middle ear (for example, when changing altitudes in a plane) the eustachian tube opens, causing the ears to "pop" and the pressure to equalize. The eustachian tube also opens during swallowing, chewing, or other jaw movement without producing the pronounced popping sensation.\n\nIf the eustachian tube is not functioning properly, it will not open. This causes the pressure in the middle ear to drop. High negative pressure in the middle ear will draw fluid out from the surrounding tissue and cause fluid to accumulate in the middle ear. This fluid can become infected, setting the stage for recurrent ear infections (otitis media). The infection causes swelling, making it even more difficult for the eustachian tube to open.\n\nEar tubes are placed to break this cycle, allowing the ears to drain and to ventilate. The drainage acts in the short term to remove any fluid in the middle ear. The ventilation function is the more important long term benefit of the tube. With ventilation the lining of the middle ear can return to normal. Since the pressure in now equalized with the surrounding air, there is no accumulation of new fluid and the chances of additional infections is reduced.\n\n \n\nThese are examples of two type of ear tubes. The diameter and the width of each tube is about 3 mm (one-eighth inch).\n\nEar tubes can also help out in those cases in which there is negative pressure in the ear but no fluid. The negative ear can lead to feelings of discomfort or fullness and hearing loss. If the symptoms do not improve with medical treatment, an ear tube can equalize the pressure in this case as well.
1169047
good grief - there is a lot of 'part' knowledge here...\n\nyou need to break this down and talk about the different parts of what the original question was asking.\n\nif it was 'see', the explanation would be the same as for hearing by the way. (it would be easier to explain about seeing)\n\nhere goes...\n\ninside your ear you have these little hairs (cillia) that are a certain distance apart. when a sound wave enters the ear the wavelength of this wave will stimulate hairs at both its high energy points (its troughs or peaks, you choose, not important) your brain knows the distance of the hairs and so can interprut this wave distance between two lots of hairs being stimulated. thats how you get the frequency (number of wavelengths in a second) of sound in your ear. the volume (loudness) depends on how vigourously the hairs are moved by the sound wave. (thats why you can go deaf listening to loud music - you kill those little hairs if too loud). \n\nnotice i said sound!\n\nyour question is about electromagnetic waves. radio waves and visible light (green) waves are both of the same stuff (light energy - some we can see and some we cannot). the organ for detecting this energy is the eye. inside the eye, the retina (back of the eye) has special cells called rods and cones for detecting different wavelengths (i believe this is what your engineer was on about). each of these cells has a specific chemical for detecting a certain wavelength. lets pick on one.\n\nthe red light cone has a protein inside that has a special part that can move to a slightly higher energy form (a more awkward position for the proten so it wants to get back to where it was before - think of bending a ruler... the more you bend it, the more it wants to get back to where it was... so the higher the energy it has) when red light is shone on that protein (inside the eye) it provides enough energy to move this extra part of the protein (called an apoprotein portion is anyone wants to know) to a higher energy state and this is enough to induce (make happen) a signal being sent to the brain that says 'red light detected' and we see red light.\n\na similar thing happens to green light.\n\nin physics, when we talk of waves whether in music or lihgth or nanometers, if you have something of the same wavelength then it is detected as the same.\n\nif you have something of a different wavelngth then it is detect as different ( or in the case of the eye.. or even the ear, not detected at all, unless your are green, red or blue light)\n\nbut if you have a wavelength that is say  x2 bigger, of x3 or x6 or x2000 times bigger exactly, with no extra and no bits needed.. it has to be exact. then these also will be detected.. A BIT. we call thesse harmonics. this is a word that belongs to music.\n\never notice the way a piano has all those notes (only 8 notes and yet so many keys..?) these eight notes are repeated but in higher registers/keys, but they are still the same note.... a higher harmonic. all these wavelenths are doubled or trippled or what ever.\n\nso, because there will be a harmonic of green light in the radiowave part of the spectrum... it can theoretically be detected. so you could theoretically detect green light (with the eye) and radiowaves (theoretically with the eye)... but never with the ear :-)\n\nhappy days - now lets look at information theory! why do we always lose information and yet still maintain the integroty of the message? at what point is the message lost?
405746
U can put a small amount of peroxide in your ear or get a product called Swimmer's Ear.
1072254
A grommet is a small device that is implanted into the ear-drum to:\n1. prevent perforation---mostly in cases of middle ear-infection.The grommet allows drainage of the infective fluid and the incision heals neater and faster than if the fluid had been allowed to ''burst through '' the ear-drum.\n2.allow pressure equalisation----in cases like Otitis Media with effusion,most commonly seen in adults(a parallel to children's 'glue ear'),a grommet is inserted to equalise the pressure and allow the effusion to drain.\n3.Sometimes it is inserted as an adjunct to tympanoplasty.\nSo although grommets are more commonly used in children because of their greater tendency to middle ear infections,they are often  used in adults as well.
457193
Here is the one I recently made:\n\nTake a transparency sheet and take ear buds (used for over head projectors)- lots of them. Dip the top of cotton part, of a bunch of ear buds, in glue and place them vertically on the transparent sheet. Go on doing this to make a square tightly filled with ear buds.  Note: you will have to give support to the ear buds until they are glued completely. \n\nNow you can apply the glue on the other side of ear buds and place another transparent sheet. Paint the central region of the ear bud-sticks with black colour. If required, cover the sides. It now looks like a square piece taken from a region in the plasma membrane.\n\nThe cotton ends now look like the hydrophobic layers on either end while the central region looks like the hydrophilic ends of phospholipids. If you want to elaborate, you can include proteins in the bilayer! You can use colour papers, ribbons etc (you can stiffen them by dipping in some glue and drying in the shape you want; I have also seen hair-bands available that form specific ion-channel like structures. Goodluck!
843674
I don't know, I once read an article about human parts that are now useless, but at one time they were useful. This article said that humans used to be able to control their ears similar to alot of animals, like cats for example, to distinguish more clearly the direction from which a sound came.
417540
1. External ear = pinna (pl. = pinnae)\n2. Appendix = vermiform appendix\n3. Nostril = naris (pl. = nares)\n4. Windpipe = trachea\n5. Voice box = larynx