Morphometric Analysis of Sexual Dimorphism and Age-Related Variation in the Human Auricle: A Cross-Sectional Anthropometric Study in the Gujarat Population

ABSTRACTBackground: The external ear is an anatomically distinctive structure that contributes to facialappearance and may provide useful information for reconstructive planning, forensic assessmentand the design of ear-related devices. Population-specific anthropometric reference data aretherefore relevant. This study describes selected external-ear dimensions in a Gujarat populationand examines differences by sex and age, together with bilateral relationships.Methods: The source study was a cross-sectional, descriptive investigation conducted at ParulInstitute of Medical Sciences & Research, Vadodara, Gujarat. It included 500 participants aged 11–60 years, comprising 250 males and 250 females. Participants were distributed equally across fiveage strata. Nine external-ear parameters were reportedly assessed using a digital Vernier caliper, ameasuring tape and a skin-marking pencil. Measurements were recorded twice. Statistical analysiswas reported as having been performed in SPSS version 25, using descriptive statistics,independent-samples t-tests and Spearman correlation; statistical significance was set at p<0.05.Results: The sample comprised 100 participants in each age stratum, with equal numbers of malesand females. Mean ear length increased across age groups from 58.2±3.5 mm in males and 56.1±3.2mm in females aged 11–20 years to 65.3±4.5 mm and 62.5±4.1 mm, respectively, among thoseaged 51–60 years. Mean ear breadth increased from 30.1±2.8 mm and 28.5±2.5 mm in the youngeststratum to 34.0±3.6 mm and 32.2±3.3 mm in the oldest stratum. Between-sex differences for bothdimensions were reported as p<0.001 in every age group. The strongest reported left–rightcorrelation was for ear length (r=0.92), while the weakest was for lobule height (r=0.78).Conclusion: The reported findings indicate larger mean ear length and breadth among males andprogressively greater dimensions across the age strata. The dataset may inform further populationspecific work in clinical, forensic and ergonomic settings. Interpretation is limited by the absence of complete numerical results for seven of the nine reported parameters and by the lack of detailedstatistical outputs.