Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences
Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences
Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences
To cite this article: Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences (2013): Anthropometric study of the
external ear and its applicability in sex identification: assessed in an Indian sample, Australian
Journal of Forensic Sciences, DOI: 10.1080/00450618.2013.767374
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00450618.2013.767374
Introduction
Various methods can be used to establish the identity of an individual, including ngerprints, dental records, DNA analysis and anthropologic measurements [16]. Every so
often, it may be necessary to apply newer and unusual techniques [3]. Recently, ear
prints have shown the potential for personal identication in forensic investigations.
The external ear, composed of auricle/pinna and external acoustic meatus, has been
extensively studied as an identication parameter. The external ear and its prints have
been described by many authors as having an important role in establishing the identity
of criminals and victims of crimes or accidents [79]. The anatomy of the pinna differs
according to the age, sex, race and ethnic group and has been used by physical
anthropologists and forensic experts in identication [8], [1014]. A thorough
knowledge of the morphology of the human ear also helps in facial reconstruction for
forensic identication, for surgical procedures carried out for ear replacement and for
ergonomic replacement of hearing aids. A detailed study of the morphologic features,
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
2013 Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences
V. Murgod et al.
position, orientation and the metric analysis of the external ear is thus essential for
forensic experts, physical anthropologist and for surgeons [10], [13], [1518].
Quantitative data on ear dimensions have been reported in Koreans [19,20],
Japanese [11], Turkish Caucasians [21], British Caucasians [10], American Caucasians
[22], Italian Caucasians [23], Berlin Caucasians [24], African populations [10] and Han
population [25]. There are few studies that do exist on Indians [16], [24], [2629];
however, three of these studies focused only on particular geographic areas (two on
North West India and the other on Central India) while one was conducted on children
and newborns. So, data regarding ear morphology in young adult population is lacking.
In the current scenario, reference databases on every ethnic group are needed in forensic
investigations. Additionally, though the differences in the ears between males and
females have been largely acknowledged, none of the studies have explored the sex discrimination potential of these parameters.
The present study aims to give information regarding ear morphology in the young
adult Indian population, i.e. normal sex-related dimensions of the ear (linear measurements, shape, and attachment of lobes) and leftright symmetry belonging to the age
group of 1830 years using a non-invasive digital photography method. Additionally,
we have endeavoured to evaluate the extent of sexual dimorphism of all these variables
and their efcacy in sex estimation.
Table 1.
Sl. No
State
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Karnataka
Maharashtra
Rajasthan
Bihar
Haryana
Uttar Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
West Bengal
Tamil Nadu
Gujarat
Andhra Pradesh
Goa
Delhi
Punjab
Orissa
Assam
Manipur
Jharkhand
Kerala
Himachal Pradesh
Total
Males
Females
68
19
6
8
3
6
3
3
3
17
4
1
3
5
1
0
0
0
0
0
150
23
18
8
12
4
8
3
5
3
9
17
10
7
12
1
2
1
2
4
1
150
Figure 1. Landmarks utilized for the ear morphometry. Superaurale (sa) highest/superior most
point on the free margin of the auricle (1); Subaurale (sba) lowest point on the free margin of
the ear lobe(2); Preaurale (pra) most anterior point of the ear, located just in front of the helix
(3); Postaurale (pa) most posterior point on the free margin of the ear (helix) (4); Inferior most
attachment of pinna(5); Deepest point on the intertragic notch (6); Posterior most point of the ear
lobe (7).
V. Murgod et al.
Measurements
The selected photographs were imported and analysed using the Adobe Photoshop CS3
software. After adjusting the pixels to 1 cm, the measure tool of the software was used to
make the following measurements with the landmarks depicted in Figure 1 (Unit: mm):
Lobe attachments that were classied as attached (A), intermediate (B) and free
lobes (C) as shown in Figure 2 based on Sharma et al. [24].
Physiognomic ear index was calculated by using the following formula: (Ear
breadth 100)/ Ear length. Based on this, the overall shape of the ear was classied [10] as Narrow if the value is 6600, Medium if >600 but 6650 and Wide
if P650.
All the measurements were performed by the rst author. Further, the intraobserver
variation was assessed by randomly measuring 50 subjects photographs again at a later
time for all the ear parameters.
Statistical analysis
Descriptive statistics (Mean and Standard deviation) for each measurement in males and
females was generated. The symmetry of the right and left ears (Table 2), the differences in the ear symmetry between sexes (Table 3) and intra-observer variability were
evaluated using paired t-test and technical error measurement (TEM). The male to
female differences (univariate sex dimorphism) in the parameters recorded were analysed using a t-test (Table 4). P-values of less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically signicant. The comparison according to gender of the measured parameters was
evaluated using discriminant function analysis (Tables 5 and 6). The univariate and
multivariate statistical analyses were performed on a SPSS 10.0 software package
(SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA).
Results
Intraobserver variation
The paired t tested to evaluate potential intraobserver variation demonstrated insignicant statistical differences (p P 0.05) except for the lobe length measurements. However, the average difference was only around 0.05 cm. Further, the technical error of
measurement (TEM), which measures the error of variability that carries the same measurement units as the variable measured, ranged from 0.97 to 1.2 for all the ear parameters. These results signify that the methodology was adequate and unlikely to bias the
results (within 2 times, i.e. 95% precision margin) [30].
Symmetry
Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics of the ear variables evaluated and measured on
both right and left sides with the degree of symmetry analysed using the paired t-test.
The ear length ranged from 62.462.9 mm with the left ear length being signicantly
larger than the right ear length (p = 0.002). Contrastingly, the right ear breadth was
signicantly wider in comparison to the left ear breadth. (Range: 32.733.9 mm;
p 6 0.000). The measurements for the right base of auricle were statistically larger than
those of the left base of auricle and were in the range of 43.945.0 mm. The lobe
length (range 18.919.0 mm) and the lobe breadth (range 18.3 18.6 mm) were larger in
the right ear compared with the left ear but the differences did not reach the level of
statistical signicance (p P 0.001).
Table 3 depicts the symmetry of the ear within the sexes. A signicant difference
between males and females for both right and left ears for ear length, breadth, base of
Table 2. Descriptive statistics of the measured ear variables and paired t test for evaluation of
the symmetry of ear (measurements in mm).
Ear length
Ear breadth
Base of Auricle
Lobe Length
Lobe Breadth
Statistically signicant
Left (n=300)
Right (n=300)
6.29 0.51
3.270.32
4.390.50
1.890.23
1.830.31
6.24 0.58
3.39 0.32
4.500.54
1.900.25
1.860.31
Difference
0.05
0.12
0.11
0.1
0.03
0.41
0.27
0.40
0.15
0.24
T value
P-value
2.346
7.821
4.952
0617
1.961
0.020
0.000
0.000
0.538
0.051
Statistically signicant
Variables
63.815.62
63.776.50
33.063.08
34.783.32
45.285.22
46.795.88
18.752.41
19.032.80
18.293.02
18.973.11
Mean
0.112
7.212
4.363
2.085
3.437
1.712.92
1.514.24
0.281.64
0.682.37
T value
0.044.71
Difference
Male (150)
0.001
0.039
0.000
0.000
0.911
P value
Mean
62.164.45
61.074.73
32.363.25
33.092.92
42.564.42
43.354.22
19.172.15
19.02.21
18.423.15
18.293.13
Table 3. Symmetry of ear measurements within the sexes using paired t test. (Measurements in mm.)
0.132.43
0.171.44
0.793.78
0.732.38
1.093.50
Difference
Female (150)
0.660
1.426
2.566
3.727
3.800
T value
0.511
0.156
0.011
0.000
0.000
P value
6
V. Murgod et al.
Table 4. Ear morphometry in subjects studied and univariate sex dimorphism using t- test.
(Measurements in mm.)
Males (150)
Females (150)
Variables
Mean
Std. Deviation
Mean
Std. Deviation
T value
P value
63.8
63.7
33.1
34.8
45.3
46.8
18.7
19.0
18.3
18.9
0.56
0.65
0.31
0.33
0.52
0.59
0.24
0.28
0.30
0.31
62.1
61.1
32.3
33.1
42.5
43.3
19.2
19.0
18.4
18.3
0.44
0.47
0.32
0.29
0.44
0.42
0.21
0.22
0.31
0.31
2.823
4.107
1.899
4.678
4.869
5.819
1.598
0.089
0.383
1.877
0.005
0.000
0.58
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.111
0.929
0.702
Statistically signicant
Table 5.
Variables
Left ear length
Right ear length
Left ear breadth
Right ear breadth
Left base of auricle
Right base of auricle
Left lobe length
Right lobe length
Left lobe breadth
Right lobe breadth
Left physiognomic ear
index
Right physiognomic
ear index
Unstandardized
coefcient
Functional
coefcient
Standardized
coefcient
8.909
0.883
17.295
2.265
0.610
1.368
2.518
0.920
0.058
1.592
1.003
0.604
0.506
0.486
0.426
0.293
0.197
0.195
0.166
0.082
0.040
0.031
4.514
0.502
5.482
0.708
0.295
0.709
0.576
0.232
0.018
0.497
4.294
0.021
0.009
0.094
0.560
0.670
0.184
0.216
0.091
0.415
0.718
0.720
0.568
0.343
0.857
1.403
3.147
1.819
0.075
Group Controls:
Males = 0.556
Females = 0.556
auricle and lobe breadth was observed. Ear length, breadth and base of auricle were larger in males than in females; while lobe breadth in contrast was larger in females than
in males. The lobe length was symmetrical for both ears in males and females.
The most common type of attachment of ear lobes was the intermediate type (55%)
followed by the attached (27.6%) and free types (17.3%). This was symmetrical for
both right and left ears and also between the sexes, the predominant ear attachment was
8
Table 6.
V. Murgod et al.
Sex classication accuracy using discriminant analysis.
Male
Female
Total
102/150
97/150
68
64.7
111/150
108/150
74
72
213/100
205/100
71
68.3
100/150
66.7
108/150
72
208/300
69.3
97/150
64.7
106/150
70.7
203/300
67.7
the intermediate type (males: 48.7% and females: 61.3%). The attachment evaluation
was based on the morphology and no metric measurements were undertaken.
The physiognomic ear index was around 519.5 43.1 for the left ears while it was
around 547.5 43.8 for the right ear in males, while in females for the left ear; the
physiognomic ear index was 521.1 42.5 and for the right; 543.1 47.2. Based on
this, the most common ear shape in our population was narrow (left: 97.3% and right:
89.3%) followed by medium (left: 2.3% and right: 9.6%) and wide (left: 1.3% and
right: 1%) irrespective of the sex of the individual.
Univariate sexual dimorphism
The univariate sex differences of all the ear variables are shown in Table 4. The left
and right ear length, right ear breadth, left and right base of auricle showed signicant
sexual dimorphism (p 6 0.001). The lobe length, breadth and physiognomic index did
not demonstrate signicant differences in males and females (p P 0.001).
Discriminant analysis
When all the variables were evaluated using multivariate analysis, i.e. discriminant
function analysis; an overall sex classication accuracy of 71% was obtained. Here,
74% of females and 68% of males were correctly identied. However, ve variables
entered into stepwise discrimination analysis, i.e. left and right lobe length, left and
right base of auricle and right physiognomic index. This analysis proved effective in
identication of sex, with overall accuracy being 69.3%, in which 66.7% of males and
72% of females were correctly recognized. Further, on cross validation, the overall sex
classication accuracy was reduced to 68.3% (Males 64.7%; Females 72%) on
using all the variables and 67.7% (Males 64.7%; Females 70.7%) on using stepwise
discriminant analysis (Table 5 and 6).
Discussion
An in-depth knowledge of the dimensions and relative position of facial structures in
different age, sex and ethnic groups is essential for facial reconstruction, both for surgical and forensic purposes. The anthropometric measurements, including those of the
ear, can be done either by direct or indirect methods. Although direct anthropometry is
ideal, indirect anthropometric techniques such as photography are also frequently used.
10
Table 7.
V. Murgod et al.
Ear length and breadth variables in different populations.
Study
Purkait[25]
Bozkir et al. [17]
Kihwan et al. [20]
Kang et al. [19]
Ngeow et al. [31]
Sforza et al. [13]
Kalcioglu et al. [21]
Alexander et al. [10]
Population
Male ear
Female ear Male ear
Female ear
length (mm) length(mm) width(mm) width(mm)
57.7
63.1
62.2
64.6
64.6
61.9
64.5
62.7
68.9
60.4
59.9
62.4
63.1
65
64.1
63.763.8
60.9
59.7
59.3
60.3
60.3
56.1
60.3
60.4
60.9
68
58.4
57.3
61
61.162.1
33.1
33.3
46.3
27.9
34.7
37.5
35.4
38.1
31.2
31.3
44.3
27.8
31.8
34.5
33.5
35
33.134.8
32.333.1
males was more compared to that in females in all the studies except in our study,
where contrasting results were seen, similar to that reported by Kalcioglu et al. [21]. It
was observed that as compared to the ear length, the mean breadth of the right ear was
greater than the left ear irrespective of the sex of the individual, which was similar to
the study conducted by Bozkir et al. [17].
The measurements of the base of auricle were larger in males (45.3346.8 mm) than
in females (4.254.33 cm). This was comparable to the results obtained by Neimitz
et al. [14] on the Berlin population (49 43 mm in males and 44 37mm in females).
The right base of the auricle was seen to be larger than the left in both males and
females in our study. No other data exist regarding this parameter in Indians.
The lobe length observed in our study was similar to that observed in Caucasians,
however it was larger compared to the value for Koreans. It was larger in females compared with males, which is consistent with other studies. The lobe breadth observed in
our study was lower compared with what has been observed in previous studies. It was
larger in males compared with females, which is consistent with previous reports
(Table 8).
The intermediate attachment of ear lobes was the most frequent type of ear lobe
observed in our study, regardless of the gender, followed by attached and free types.
This was different from reports on North West Indians by Sharma et al. [16]. The
present method of evaluating the attachment has been considered for simplicity and
reproducibility.
The physiognomic ear index in our study was found to be 519.5 43.1 for the left
ear and 547.5 43.8 for the right ear in males with an average of 533.5 43.5. In a
study conducted by Singh et al. [30], the physiognomic ear index was found to be 569
to 573 mm in males and 552 to 561 in females in Central India. All these studies reinforce our conclusion that most Indians have a narrow ear shape based on the physiognomic ear index.
These differences seen in different ethnic and socio-cultural groups may be governed by genetic, environmental and nutritional factors, which have an effect on the
Population
Purkait [25]
Bozkir et al. [17]
Kang et al. [19]
Anu Sharma et al. [24]
Neimitz et al. [14]
Present study
Study
Table 8.
16.716.9
18.318.4
15.2
18.518.7
170.22
18.719.0
Lobe length
Male (mm)
17.517.9
15
170.18
19.019.2
Lobe length
Female (mm)
Lobe breadth
Male (mm)
18.318.9
19.620
19.419.8
22.022.2
18.318.4
18.518.9
Lobe breadth
Female(mm)
12
V. Murgod et al.
structure of the human ear. It can also be empirically said that there is no normal
appearance of ears, even among people of the same ethnic origin, which makes them as
unique as ngerprints and can aid in identication.
Although several cranial and odontometric parameters have been used in sex determination [36], the sex assessment potential of ear variables is largely unexplored. In the
present study, on using all the variables; the sex classication accuracy was 71%, with
around 68% of males and 74% of females being correctly classied. However, ve variables, i.e. the left and right base of the auricle, the left and right lobe length and the
right physiognomic index entered into stepwise discriminant analysis and gave a moderate accuracy of 69.3%. This implies that the use of these ve variables gave an almost
equal accuracy to that of using all the variables. This accuracy is almost similar to
cranial and odontometric parameters used in comparison of genders [36]. The crossvalidated accuracy also ranged from 6468.3%. No other study related to ear parameters
exists for us to compare our ndings, and we believe that ear parameters may have the
potential to serve as an adjunct for sex identication in forensic scenarios along with
other routinely used methods. Nevertheless, it is well known fact that anthropological
attributes vary among different populations, thus necessitating specic standards of
assessment for each population.
Conclusion
The current study provides detailed information about ear dimensions in the
Indian population in an age group of 1830 years. This could serve as a database
for the quantitative description of auricular morphology in Indians of the 1830
years age group considering the sex-related variations.
An additional point is the use of digital photographic analysis, which could aid
in the storage of data that can be utilized at a later date for personal identication
of both living and dead persons.
Further, this study also revealed that several morphometric variables gave a moderate to good (6971%) sex assessment accuracy, which emphasizes its utility as
an adjunct for sex estimation in Indians. Nevertheless, we believe that larger samples should be examined in detail to further validate the ndings of this study
and come to denitive conclusions.
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge all the participants who agreed to let their ears be photographed
for this study, Dr. Ashith Acharya, Department of Forensic Odontology, SDM College of Dental
Sciences and Hospital, Dharwad for his creative inputs to conduct this study and Mr. Mallapur
for performing the statistical analysis.
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