Deciphering the Morphological Correlation Between Stature and External Ear: An investigative approach in the field of Forensic Science

Forensic anthropology is the study of skeletal remains for the identification of individuals, and anthropology more broadly deals with the study of humans. Many studies have been conducted to estimate stature from different body parts, such as the foot, extremities, hand, and vertebrae. However, in some cases, recovering all body parts and bones in their entirety can be difficult at the crime scene for forensic examination. In such cases, it becomes necessary to use another region, such as the head and facial region, for the estimation of height. Determination of height is a crucial aspect of forensic examination for the identification of the individual. This study was done to find the correlation between the stature and the morphological variations of the external auricular region for the estimation of stature for the purpose of forensic investigation. The study was conducted on 385 male individuals a total of four ear parameters were measured from both ears using the digital caliper. The data was analysed using Jamovi version 2.4.11. The result showed that there was a positive correlation between all the dimensions with stature. The linear regression analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship, with the most predicted variable in males being the left ear length (p<0.001). This study concludes that the external auricular morphometry can be an additional tool for the estimation of stature in forensic investigation.