The ears look like wings attached to the head. Not much respect for the two appendagesthat do not even spend any time with each other. We give so little thought to them thatsometimes we forget to wash behind them. Moreover, we never remember that they are one ofa connected trio or maybe we just do not know that. Nurses and doctors refer to them as ENTand regular people say “ears, nose, and throat”. I believe the most popular notoriety given to thepair was Will Smith, Mike Tyson, and Evander Holyfield, otherwise these twins are invisible.So what is my dilemma with this quiet, unassuming pair? Well, the problem is once these twoare hot and bothered they make people do bizarre rituals like head banging, chemical assaults,and medieval surgery.

There is good but delicate stuff housed in our skull one being the brain. The inclinationto bam on our ears with our hands or fists is not a rational thought or the concept of the eardrumhas been taken way out of the context. Water in the ears, ear pressure changes, and loud musiccan activate this strange behavior. Itching in the ear brings out chemically assaultive behaviorsuch as homemade concoctions, warm olive oil or mineral oil, and hydrogen peroxide ascheaper alternatives to eardrops or earwax solutions. The worse ritual is the medieval surgery.The medieval surgery is sticking an unsanitary bobby pin, gym clip, or the well-intended q-tip[not designed for internal probing] into the hole that leads to the brain! OMG! I mean oh myotolaryngologists! [ear doctor]. Is that q for quackery? I have to say yes because even untrainedpeople know better than to do that.

Why are you so quiet? I believe you are quiet because you know you are guilty of earassault at least once in your lifetime. There is no need to get nervous, scared, or go into denial,just listen. Our ears are low maintenance, by that I mean in the absence of a medical disease theears overall do not require much from us. We forget too that the ears are not just for hearing butfor equilibrium. Equilibrium is the balance that controls dizziness. Without equilibrium, we willnot be able to walk or even stand.

The ears that hang on your head are just doors to the real parts that make the ears work.Did you that the ears have three separate parts: inner, outer, and middle? The outer ear is toprotect the inside and the wax is to keep germs and dirt out. There are nine muscles in themiddle ear for acoustic vibrations. The inner ear is a liquid sac that has three chambers thathouse 14 components for balance and hearing. That’s a lot of delicate stuff! So in the careof the ears, follow one simple rule. If heat, concoctions, or chewing gum does not fix theearproblem. Leave them alone and go straight to the doctor.

References
Gori, L., & Firenzuoli, F., (2007). Acupuncture in European traditional medicine. Evidence-
based Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 4( Issue suppl_1), p13-16,
Hudde, H., & Schmidt, S., (2009). Sound fields in generally shaped curved ear canals. Journal of
the Acoustical Society of America, 125(5), p3146-3157.
Peusner, K. D., (2011). Signal processing in first- and second-order vestibular neurons Journal of
Vestibular Research: Equilibrium & Orientation, 21(1), p1-3.
Selby, M., (2011). Assessing the ear. Practice Nurse, 41(14), p40-45.
Structure and Function of the Auditory and Vestibular System - 1 1 An Overview of:Structure
and Function of the Ear Paul Fuchs 955-3877 521 Traylor ...
www.jhu.edu/strucfunc/2006_files/2006_09_12.pdf