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I trained myself to wiggle one ear as a kid and it's exactly like this. The muscle is much stronger in that ear and there's a weird reflex that when something s
by mmastrac 2y ago
I trained myself to wiggle one ear as a kid and it's exactly like this. The muscle is much stronger in that ear and there's a weird reflex that when something startles me from behind, the same muscle that makes the ear wiggle triggers. It happens in the untrained ear as well.
Weird phenomenon.
- Gys 2y agoYou trained it? I can wiggle each ear very visibly (and both). I hardly ever do but as I remember most people can’t. So i always assumed it was a DNA thing.
- noelwelsh 2y agoNot the person you're replying to, but is also trained myself to do it. I basically touched the area where the muscle is, tried to activate it ... time passes ... and some unconscious process figured it out. Now, as a responsible parent, I use my super power to troll my kids.
- justanotherjoe 2y agoIt could be both
- ABS 2y agoI too trained it when I was in primary school after seeing a class mate do it. And like OP I eventually managed to control one ear (right) but not the other, even to this day 40 years later
- unsupp0rted 2y agoSame here, same ear
- RajT88 2y agoI can twitch my left ear independently from my right. But not the right one independently. I'm sure it means something. Both at the same time is easy.
- phkahler 2y ago>> I can wiggle each ear very visibly (and both). I hardly ever do but as I remember most people can’t. So i always assumed it was a DNA thing. After reading the article I think its a "use it or lose it" thing where the muscles and ability to control them atrophy in our modern environment. We have more competing sounds and external means to "turn up the volume" so we can hear a particular thing.
- gpderetta 2y agoI can wiggle either ear independently. It greatly annoys my wife and my kids :D
- iszomer 2y agoMe too but it annoys no one I know. Best use case is when I need more bass in my IEM's.
- doubled112 2y agoI've always been able to wiggle my ears, but just today I learned if I focus I can do one at a time. I'm 33. Thanks for the useless new skill!
- techjamie 2y agoI can also wiggle both ears and tend to do the same thing. Always just thought I was weird.
- awinter-py 2y agouseful for listening to someone through earbuds as well -- moving back the ear creates an air gap
- RajT88 2y agoI wouldn't say I trained it, but I learned to control it. I do find myself pricking up my ears to hear better, not always consciously. FWIW, I can raise my eyebrows individually, flare my nostrils, twitch my nose, and also flex some muscle which pops my ears. Useless human tricks. Except popping my ears; super useful on airplanes.
- kstrauser 2y agoIf you can’t will your ears to pop, here’s the manual way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver
- abdullahkhalids 2y agoThe method involves closing the mouth and pinching the nose shut and trying to "exhale". As the wiki notes further down, this can cause damage to your hearing if you do it too forcefully, so use other methods first.
- kstrauser 2y agoTrue, but it's really, really easy to not do it so hard that you blow your eardrums out. Scuba divers do this all the time.
- abdullahkhalids 2y agoIt doesn't work for me, and there is a definitely a voice in my head saying blow harder.
- shkkmo 2y agoThat's a way, and perhaps the most common, but far from the best. In particular, it has to be used preemptively before pressure builds up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_clearing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_clearing
- Alex-Programs 2y ago
- jannyfer 2y agoI can’t control wiggling my ears, but I also have felt my ears perk up when listening to strange sounds. Sometimes accompanied by goosebumps and ASMR.
- tim333 2y ago>weird reflex that when something startles me from behind If you have cats and make a noise behind the ears automatically swivel back. I guess we must have something live that in our evolutionary past.
- DamnInteresting 2y agoWhen I was a lad, I spent some time in front of a mirror trying to teach myself to move my eyebrows independently, like Spock. I eventually succeeded, but in the process I also learned how to move my ears. One downside is that these ear muscles began to involuntarily try to help. For instance, if I am looking down while wearing glasses, my ears contract to grip the glasses so they don't fall off, and after a while these seldom used muscles ache from the effort.
- euroderf 2y agoIt was only at the age of 50-something that I found out that my ability to move my eyebrows independently is not a general population thing. Amaze! Also FWIW I can wiggle both my ears, and independently too. Is there a way to make money from this ?
- Aachen 2y agoHuh, how is it not a general population thing? To raise an eyebrow is a common expression
- lemonberry 2y agoI think he means alternating raised eyebrow. Raising my left eyebrow is easy but my right requires some significant contortion of my face to achieve.
- euroderf 2y agoA quick googling reveals: "About a third of all people can raise one eyebrow: left or right. [..] But the ability to raise both eyebrows separately is much rarer. If you're not among them, that's because you cannot yet control and move the corresponding muscles."
- yapyap 2y agoThere probably is a way to make money off this, but while doing so I’m thinking you also would be selling some dignity along with it.
- kstrauser 2y agoMy ears won’t move but I can flip my tongue over. I assumed everyone could, but nope. Bodies are so wonderfully weird and adhoc.
- smusamashah 2y agoSomeone recently told me that its genetic. Not everyone can control that muscle. I can, I learned it after seeing someone do it by lifting eye brows. I can control it without moving eyebrows now.
- hinkley 2y agoThere’s a couple actors that do this. Their character gets surprise or concerning news and their ears (and sometimes also their scalp) moves. I find it very distracting personally.
- m463 2y agofunny, I do that with my nose when I want to smell something. So I tend to flare my nostrils when I'm smelling for something.
- eleveriven 2y agoOur brain can’t help but use whatever tools it has for heightened awareness!
- unification_fan 2y agoIt's probably the same genetic code that cats use