When we strain to catch what someone is saying in a noisy room, for example, small muscles in our outer ears, called the superior auricular muscles, kick into action, likely in an attempt to ...

“These muscles, particularly the superior auricular muscle, exhibit increased activity during effortful listening tasks. This suggests that these muscles are engaged not merely as a reflex but ...

the anterior auricular muscle pulls the ear forward, the superior auricular muscle lifts it slightly, and the posterior auricular muscle pulls it backward. Together, these movements create what we ...

“These muscles, particularly the superior auricular muscle, exhibit increased activity during effortful listening tasks. This suggests that these muscles are engaged not merely as a reflex but ...

"These muscles, particularly the superior auricular muscle, exhibit increased activity during effortful listening tasks. This suggests that these muscles are engaged not merely as a reflex but ...

The study found that the more difficult the listening task, the more active the superior auricular muscles became. "These ...

All the while, electrodes around the ears recorded muscle activity. An ear muscle called the superior auricular muscle, which sits just above the ear and lifts it up, fired up when the listening ...

“These muscles, particularly the superior auricular muscle, exhibit increased activity during effortful listening tasks.” Man trying to listen closely (Brian A Jackson) The study, published in ...

“These muscles, particularly the superior auricular muscle, exhibit increased activity during effortful listening tasks.” In modern humans, auricular muscles aren’t all that useful. We use them to ...

The scientists found that, the more difficult it was for participants to hear the audiobook, the more the superior auricular muscles activated, as if participants were trying to prick up their ears ...