EAR or PINNA stands out like a PIN or GILL or sPINining sPIRAL and produce a BREAK on the facial landscape, akin to sounds that BREAK silence and induce us to "lend an EAR", to LISTEN, or to pay attention.

"Pealing Bells" can make our ears ring and so can other causes of Tinnitus. These "word ideas" link the sense of hearing with "tone". To "peel" or BREAK or ear the earth means to PLOUGH or PLOW, in Ukrainian ORATY and in Spanish is ARAR linking these ideas with Indo-European and Frisian root AR for to plow and for ear. This explains why we "ear" corn and "lend our ear" to oral oratory oratorios.

Ears portrayed by recognized artists
Some ears are long
Some auricles are round (as seen in babies)
Some pinnae are big and others small
Ear rims (helix) are variable as are their lobules
Some ears are prominent, others strange

For brevity, word roots rooted in "ear" like the Latin root ACUS has to do with SHARP (as a plow or shrill sounds can be) giving us ACUTE, ACCUSE, and ACUSTIC (ACOUSTIC); the Latin root AURIS giving us AUDIBLE, AUSCULTATE and the Greek root OTOS pointing to OTIC, OTITIS, OTOSCOPE as well as PAROTID gland and scOUT.

The above should open AURICLES (ears) to additional ideas in HELIX, TRAGUS, PINNA and DEAF.

Modern Helix

MORPHEUS insured that AURICULAR or external ear MORPHOLOGY is highly personal. Some time ago, FORENSIC experts used ear morphology to identify suspects. The component parts are the HELIX (rim), the ANTIHELIX or ANTHELIX, TRAGUS and ANTITRAGUS. The external ear canal orifice or opening is the MEATUS (passage) and internally ends at the EARDRUM or TYMPANUS or TYMPANIC (from Latin tympanon for drum) MEMBRANE. The middle and inner ear anatomy is complex. The middle ear includes three miniscule bones: MALEUS (MARTILLO or MOLOTOK in Spanish and Ukranian); INCUS (anvil) and STAPES (stirrup or ESTRIBO in Spanish). This bony chain magnifies tympanic vibrations and transmits them to the inner ear. The inner ear includes the cochlea (in Greek kochlias for snail or conch shell) which transforms vibrations into hearing and a labyrinth (from the famed Minoan amazing maze) filled with endo-lymph (as pure as nymphs) which preserves our balance. The labyrinth includes three semicircular canals that end in the fenestra vestibuli (windows in a vestibule or entry) and in an utricle (a bag or uterus like sac) or ampullae (two handed flask) which has a crista or crest or rooster's comb like. The labyrinth is populated by ciliated cells which send impulses via the vestibular to preserve our balance.

In medical terms, many children are born DEAF and benefit from early recognition and therapeutic interventions. Thus, neonatal screening for deafness is now increasingly common. Children no longer have to be condemned to be DEAFDUMB nor be victims of NEUROTOXIC drugs like streptomycin. Being deaf does not mean that the person lacks a SENSE of hearing as Beethoven did.

Ludwig van Beethoven