Is it better to hear more loudly than hear - the question that makes 90% of people mistakenly think!

This hypothesis relates to a story that everyone knows. But is it really like that?

"Little Red Riding Hood" must be a story that is no stranger to all of us. In the story, when the fake wolf acted as the grandmother of a red scarf, in response to her question about a strange appearance, she answered: "Her eyes are big to see her better, her ears are loud to hear her better" , later it quickly swallowed the poor girl.

Ignoring the horror details later, this is the detail we need to pay attention to: Is it true that ear size affects our hearing ability?

Picture 1 of Is it better to hear more loudly than hear - the question that makes 90% of people mistakenly think!
Does ear size affect hearing ability?

The answer is no. First, with animals, ear size is not a necessary criterion to assess animal hearing.

For example, bats and mice chinchillas. Both have large ears but the audio frequency range is very different. Bats can be heard from 2,000 to 110,000 hertz (Hz), while chinchillas can only detect 90 to 22,800 Hz.

Picture 2 of Is it better to hear more loudly than hear - the question that makes 90% of people mistakenly think!
Bats can hear from 2,000 to 110,000 hertz.

And in most animals with large ears, this is more useful in cooling the body than sound recognition.

Same elephant, but African elephants have a lot more ears than Asian elephants. These giant ears help them radiate the body - a useful attribute in the hot and humid climate like Africa.

Picture 3 of Is it better to hear more loudly than hear - the question that makes 90% of people mistakenly think!
Elephant ears help to dissipate the body, not to hear it better.

The same is true for humans. The outer part of the ear, also called the pinna, has two main purposes: to protect the ear canal and to allow the sound to enter the ear.

No matter the size of the ear, both functions are not different.

Although the pinna plays a rather important role, parts that are directly related to hearing are located deep within the ear, such as ear hair cells .

Picture 4 of Is it better to hear more loudly than hear - the question that makes 90% of people mistakenly think!
Whether it is "big ears" or "ears of jackfruit", the function is the same.

These audio receptors help transmit auditory signals to the brain, so they are deep in the inner ear.

If you need more evidence that your hearing is not related to your ear size, consider this: When we grow up, our ears also grow in size, but hearing ability often decreases. For 50 years, the average human ear increased by about 1cm. Meanwhile, age-related hearing loss is constantly increasing, with about one-third of adults experiencing significant hearing loss as they get older.

Are these scientific bases enough to convince you? So whether it is "big ears" or "ears of jackfruit", the function is the same!