Mean Auricular Index of the External Ear in Medical Students of a Medical College in Nepal

INTRODUCTION: The human ear is divided into external, middle and internal ear. The auricle helps in the clinical diagnosis of congenital anomalies and syndromes. The aim of this study is to determine the mean auricular index from the right and left ears, mean measurements of left and right ear and sex-related dimensions of the ear. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in medical students studying at a tertiary care hospital during the period of 1st April 2019 to 20(th) May 2019 after ethical clearance from the institutional review committee. Simple random sampling was done. Data were collected, entered in Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20 and point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. RESULTS: Out of total measurements done, we found the mean auricular index was found to be for right ear 51.75±4.51mm and for left ear 54.09±4.96mm at 95% Confidence Interval (51.75-52.37) and (53.43-54.77) respectively. The mean ear length, mean ear breadth, mean lobular length and mean lobular breadth were 57.62±5.03mm, 29.72±2.79mm, 19.32±2.60mm and 20.89±3.06mm on the right side and 57.89±4.89mm, 31.21±2.95mm, 19.38±2.55mm and 21.25±2.81mm on the left side respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The mean auricular index of the external ear of medical students was within the normal range as compared to the other studies conducted.