Whether you’re looking for a fun new party trick to add to your repertoire or hoping to make your Mr. Bean impression all the more authentic, you might be interested in learning how to wiggle your ears. 

But is it something you can learn, or is it actually a genetic trait that only a few superior beings, like Mr. Bean, can achieve? Can ear wiggling be learned? 

Wiggle what your parents gave you 

According to Audiology.org, only about 10-20% of people can wiggle their ears. Unfortunately, scientists have not focused much attention on whether ear-wiggling is hereditary. To find published data on the subject, we must go all the way back to 1949, when a study found that about 74% of participants who could wiggle their ears also had ear-wiggling parents. 

However, even if your parents weren’t known for wiggling their ears, there is still hope that you might be able to teach yourself. 

How can you wiggle your ears? 

Look around the animal kingdom and you’ll find many creatures whose ears move in reaction to sounds. Cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, elephants, squirrels — they all move their ears toward auditory stimuli. Obviously, humans can’t achieve quite the same level of ear movement as a rabbit, but that doesn’t mean our ears are doomed to remain motionless. 

A 2020 study hypothesized that humans may have retained a vestigial muscle capable of moving the outer part of our ears. Vestigial structures like this, which have lost their original function through the course of evolution, are not uncommon. Wisdom teeth are a prime example, as is your appendix and your tailbone. 

The study showed that these ear muscles are present and do, in fact, react to some novel sounds. Participants’ ears literally perked up at interesting sounds. 

Can this automatic response be trained? Maybe! 

Some participants of the 2020 study were able to intentionally activate their outer ear muscles with the help of a visual aid depicting those muscles. So, pull up some videos of Mr. Bean, get in front of a mirror, and give it a try! With a lot of concentration and even more practice, you may be able to teach yourself to wiggle your ears!