Vertical location of the ear, assessed by the Leiber test, in healthy North American Caucasians 6--19 years of age.

A method of assessing the level of the ears, slightly modified from that devised by Leiber (1972), and the instrument developed for the measurements, are described. In a study of 1312 healthy North American Caucasians of both sexes aged 6--19 years, dystopic ears were found in 15 (1.2%). The ears were low-set in 13 (5 bilateral and 8 unilateral), in more males (8) than females (5), and were high-set in 2 (bilateral in a girl and unilateral in a boy). The level of normally located ears changed with age, from low-normal location in early school age to middle-normal in young adulthood. Almost 10% of "normally" located ears were situated asymmetrically, but these asymmetries could not be detected visually.