Been doing some research, via the fascinating subject of Ears… Apart from our waistlines, our “Noses & Ears” continue to grow throughout our lifetime! I have fairly large ears, well not in “Dumbo” proportions, but large enough to fit my thumb in there easily, by half an inch or so, and I have quite large hands… It would seem, the outer ear is very much like a fingerprint, totally unique to each, and every individual on the planet, so much so, when digitally scanned/measured, its proportions remain exactly the same throughout our our lifetime, even as it grows, I believe a Japanese company claims 100% accuracy once its digitally scanned your outer ear, to prove you are, whom you say you are, for authentication purposes! Amazingly, the inner ear can be, “Acoustically Ear Scanned, With Fingerprint Technology”… So much so, that in the future, only you, will be able to use your Biometric device, cell phone, iPad, laptop or whatever… Once you put your earphones in, the Biometrics will scan your inner ear. In truth folks, it is little wonder, because our ears are so unique, and no two are the same, getting a good hearing aid fit can prove challenging… Cheers Kev 
I guess you could say you are a true Scotsman which reminds this:
Young soldier: William Wallace is 7 feet tall.
Wallace: Yes, I’ve heard. Kills men by the hundreds, and if he were here he’d consume the English with fireballs from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his a**e. …
On another note, what if someone has an ear infection, swollen inner ear, a piercing on their ear or their ear were cut off?
Interesting, I am a follower of history, especially Scottish history @Baltazard… Actually, it was Andrew De Moray who led the Scots at the battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, in the Scottish War of Independence, William Wallace was his 2IC, Second In Command, when the English surrendered at Stirling Bridge, Andrew De Moray signed first above William Wallace, which back then was a recognition of rank… Unfortunately for De Moray, he was mortally wounded in that battle, and died some days or weeks later! I lived in the village of Avoch (Pronounced Awk), on the Black Isle for many years, tis about 12 miles north-east from Inverness, the ruins of De Moray’s Ormond Castle sits high above the village, to the west… It was knocked down by Oliver Cromwell in the 1650’s, to build a fortress in Inverness, (Now also in Ruins) the stone taken by barge to Inverness, at a very low tide, below Ormond Castle Hill, you can still see some of the large dressed keystones, that didn’t make the journey for whatever reason… IMO, Andrew De Moray, is the unsung hero of Scottish history, and his only lasting legacy is they named the Moray Firth after him… As for Biometric acoustic ear measurement, it will most likely be used in conjunction with, fingerprints, the Iris, and facial recognition, and perhaps you might have to pass 3 out of 4 to gain entry to a maximum security unit? With smart phones, probably 1 out of 4 will let you in? As for hearing aids, it is amazing how they are able to measure the acoustics of the inner ear, and measure these so accurately… Perhaps this is why, REM is a must for each individual hearing aid user? Cheers Kev
I think many men have big ears. I know my husband did. My ex son-in-law, who just passed away, also had large ears because he was so old and, I don’t know what else, but his ears looked very large in his Obit pic. I don’t remember them seeming so large when he was younger. Perhaps it’s loss of weight, hair, and face muscle as one ages.
Like Little Red Riding Hood said to the wolf, “What big ears you have.” The wolf replied, “ better to hear you, my dear,” This is a little American fairytale for children.
The story progresses, what a big mouth you have. Better to eat you with replied the wolf.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Huberman lab podcast #27 on hearing. He talks about some of the things you have mentioned and that there is an algorithm to calculate your biological age based on the circumference of your ears!
Thank you for your comments @anihan… Very interesting that they can also measure your age @Moore8, I shall look for that podcast, thank you Having never really been interested in Ears, well apart from infections, and the occasional sores caused by hearing aid molds/moulds, I thought within reason, Ears where predominantly all alike, or very similar in shape, and size, turns out they are all unique, and so unique the inner & outer Ear, can be used for various Biometric purposes, suffice to say, for me at least, Ears have become a fascinating subject, the more I read, the more they perk my interest… As always, others may find the subject of little or no interest whatsoever… Cheers Kev
Edit; @Moore8 your Huberman lab podcast #27 video, cheers Kev
Fascinating reading. My middle name is MacKinnon…living in Canada I often feel we have no history; or it’s been muted being so close to the giant below our country.
About REM…I’m so confused. All 3 of my audiologists used REM. The second one destroyed my hearing aids they sold me with every setup. The third one couldn’t set up the hearing aids he provided, even though he used REM. Then he erased them and used the Target quick setup program. It was his best effort, even though they didn’t work.
The gentleman who set them up so well used the Phonak Target quick setup program too. He did boost mid frequencies, and volume. And I can hear!
He did something else of great value to me. He provided two printed reports. Pro Report. User Report. I can see how they are setup. It truly set my mind at ease.
What would I gain by having REM done?
DaveL
Toronto
Thanks for this–very interesting!! I’m currently watching “Unforgotten”, a TV drama series that features the importance of forensics for ID; ears will be (maybe are) like teeth for ID-ing mysterious corpses. But only if pictures/measures of the living ear are on file, I guess. . . .
I think the REM difference will be very subtle Dave, perhaps as little as 5%, overall better clarity, but that is a big jump, if you are in the severe/profound threshold, any increase in clarity for us guys is a big thing, and maybe not so much, if you are moderate/severe? As we are all aware, speech in noise is the “Proverbial Holy Grail” of hearing aids, and remote mics aside, I can’t envisage there will be any major breakthroughs in the foreseeable future…But, hopefully I am wrong! Any improvements in speech in noise, will most likely be incremental, but any improvement is very much welcomed! This week, I have reverted back to my RIC Marvel 90’s, with custom 105db receivers, mainly because of ear ache, caused by the mold/mould on my Naida P90 BTE’s, I can’t rub them down, as they have a hypoallergenic coating, a tiny scab on the Antihelical Fold is giving me severe pain, so I am using the RIC’s until that clears up…One thing I noticed immediately, for some strange reason, the Phonak TV Connector 2, it sounds even more pristine with the Marvel RIC’s, so much so, I had to turn it down a couple of clicks, from my normal level when using the Naida’s… Cheers Kev
I parted company with the “audiologist-that-quit” as friends. I’m not so sure now.
I use closed domes with my RIC hearing aids; I hated power domes when I had them. If I stick my index fingers in my ears with the closed domes volume remains the same.
I have a Phonak TV Connector 2. It sounds so good! Music in particular is wonderful. How can it be so good when hearing aids (speech in noise) are so bad with music? I can’t use it when my wife is nearby because I can’t hear her talk.
After all, why should a practitioner be able to setup my Phonak Paradise P90’s where the audiologist who provided them could not? The practitioner did work for Sonova in another life time.
(I had to edit this; I’m afraid I got into a rant. So rant is gone…)
Ears are remarkable. My hearing loss started when I worked in a 3M power house where noise level was measured later at 110 dB. Later they provided the wonderful ear plugs that they sold to be used by servicemen in US to protect their hearing…
I truly appreciate your post.
DaveL
Toronto
I get days Dave, when I decline to report, I am basically incommunicado, and when that mood hits me, I leave my aids out, all day long! If my wife wants to communicate, she can sign, I like to occasionally switch off from this hearing world, and somedays for me, sticking a foreign body into my ears, just pisses me off… You can of course use the App, switching back and forth, from the TV Connector, to speaing to your wife, I think it was easier with the slider, but the seem to have removed that function? Cheers Kev
This is fascinating. Firstly, living slightly south of the border, I find the Scottish history interesting and educational, especially if it’s to “learn from” rather than “live by”. I knew nothing of Moray. I wonder if the eel was named after him, or was the firth naned first? All very interesting. It’s only in recent times that I’ve learnt that the Romans ventured a long way north of Hadrians wall! Either my schooling was poor, or I didn’t listen at the time.
My hearing story, and battle with speech in noise, has been strange.
In 2009, I finally realised I was going deaf, due to lifestyle (guitar), and got Phonak Analogue hearing aids on the NHS. I could hear everything, and the world became a very noisy place. I got Oticon digitals after that, but I don’t remember much about them, and when they were replaced by Phonak digitals in 2015, they took the Oticons off me. I think this is when my battle with speech recognition began, because I’ve forever been going back to (NHS) audiology to get them adjusted, with little success. They’d generally just boost the volume, as they said they couldn’t boost the high frequencies any more because they were maxed out, and my Nathos Novas (Marvel M70) weren’t powerful enough. From my Audiogram, you’ll see the latter statement was rubbish, and upping the volume just created upwards masking and made the problem worse. I’ve since reprogrammed them, and although they sound quite “crude”, I can now hear speech in noise far far better. I did go private this year and bought P90’s online.
When they arrived, speech recognition was, frankly, still poor. My private Audiologist, firstly replaced the closed domes with custom slimtips. These are like hard shaped domes, that go right into the ear canal, and I get no irritation, or occlusion with them. He got these for me so he’d have more chance of reducing Phonaks feedback control. He spent a lot of time on this. He also used to work as a consultant for Phonak, and knew how Phonaks feedback control could rob you of the very frequencies you need to hear speech. These steps, I believe, are more important than anything else he did. He didn’t do REM (nobody has). He also spent some time with compression in the very high frequencies, to promote soft sounds, over loud. This has worked too, in a subtle way. He battled against the Target software to do this, as every change, changed something else too. I’ve connectedvthem to Target now, but I will not touch his main programme settings, as I don’t want to ruin what he’s done. All I’ve done, is switch the order of programmes, making Music the default. I’m no fan of autosense.
My conclusion is, with my private P90s my hearing has been transformed. Even my self programmed M70s have become a game changer, but they are strictly spares now (I need 1 more Roger X for these). I have a Roger Pen 1.2, a Roger On v1 and now a Roger Select. None of these are as essential any more to assist in crowds or echo. The base programme is that good. I did find the sub programme speech in echo was helpful in a meeting, but I switched some parameters in Target. I’m going to place the Roger Select in the centre of the room next meeting.
I imported his gain/feedback/compression settings into my Marvels. It made them worse!
Sorry for wafgling again 
Peter
I appreciate all you wrote.
Your comments about feedback control are really interesting. I don’t do DIY. I have experimented but lost the programs I saved. Audi erased them and did a quick fit. I went elsewhere and I can hear now.
I found the new practitioner to be most helpful.
I’m really perplexed. Why is this all so hard? Why didn’t my hearing aids work first day of use 2 years ago? Why didn’t the audi have the skill to set them up? Frankly he should have paid me, not the other way around.
DaveL
Toronto
My favourite subject is history @PeterH, closely followed by geography… I am, by no stretch of the imagination, an expert in either subject… I also love historical buildings, especially from the Bronze Age/Iron Age, I actually slept in Clickimin Broch in Shetland one night, for my sins, pissed as a fart 
My hearing journey, was not dissimilar to yours Peter, spread out over a longer period though… The NHS is a wonderful service, but budgetary constraints, older tech, and fitting times, leave a lot to be desired, I do think the NHS A.uD’s are highly skilled, but there is only so much you can do in the allotted 20 minutes or so, so eventually the penny drops, and you go private in the pursuit of better hearing, but you are acutely aware, your hearing aid fitting could be better, a little tweak here or there, can make a big improvement, so you stumble into the world of DIY, which eventually opens up a world of possibilities, it’s not for everyone, but if you can overcome the self-doubt & naysayers, then I believe the best qualified person to program their aids, is you! You understand immediately, what works, and ultimately what doesn’t… For me, the key is getting a handle on the software, once you have a rudimentary understanding of Target, with a little practice, you are good to go… Once I get things up and running to my liking, that’s it, I leave well alone… Cheers Kev