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Does Ear Morphology Establish Automatic Extraction of Soft Biometric Traits?
AC10-AC13
Correspondence
Dr. Bincy M George,
Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education Campus, Madhav Nagar, Udupi, Karnataka, India.
E-mail: bincyrajakumary@gmail.com
Introduction: The external appearance of auricle varies between ethnic groups. However, there have been no studies on external ear morphometry correlating soft biometrics of the same individual. Therefore, a morphometric databank for the same appears to offer useful data to doctors and computer engineers working with documentation system.
Aim: To correlate the external ear parameters (Total ear height, Lobular width and Lobular height) with biometric parameters (Height, Head circumference and shoulder breadth) of individuals of different Ethnic Group and to correlate the linear measurements of the external ear within individuals of different ethnic groups.
Materials and Methods: From four of Asian ethnic group, 160 students aged between 19 and 25 volunteered for the study. The races include Malaysians, Malaysian Chinese (Chinese residing in Malaysia); Indians; and Malaysian Indian (Indians residing in Malaysia). Linear measurements of ear pinna, Height, Head circumference, and Shoulder breadth of every participant were measured. The data were analysed using SPSS software, through one-way ANOVA and non-parametric Pearson’s coefficient.
Results: Except Indian males there was significant correlation existing between height of individuals and total ear height (Malaysian Male r=0.507, p<0.05; Malaysian Female r=0.452, p<0.04; Malaysian Indian Male r=0.463, p<0.05; Malaysian Indian Female r=0.583, p<0.007; Malaysian Chinese Male r=0.520, p<0.01; Malaysian Chinese Female r=0.514, p<0.05. Positive correlation was also found between total ear height and lobular height in Malay (Male; r=0.566, p<0.02; Female; r=0.507, p<0.009) and Malaysian Chinese (Male: r=0.717, p<0.001; Female: r=0.514, p<0.02) samples. The correlation between shoulder breadth and total ear height was not significant in both males and females of Malaysian Indian ethnic group. There was no positive correlation between head circumference and total ear height in Malaysian Chinese males and Indian females.
Conclusion: From the present study, authors found that there exists a correlation between person’s height to his or her total ear height. Correlation of ear morphometry to the head circumference and shoulder length of an individual varied in various ethnic groups. Correlation between different linear measurements of the ear in different ethnic groups also varied. The knowledge of external ear morphometry to the physical characteristics of an individual is necessary for reconstructive surgeries. This knowledge may be used as supportive evidence in the forensic field as the identification landmarks varied in different ethnic groups.