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How to Wiggle Your Ears Download Article Co-authored by wikiHow Staff
Last Updated: January 22, 2026 Fact Checked
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Facial Muscles
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Warmups
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Moving Your Ears
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This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 980,981 times. Learn more...
Wiggling your ears is a pretty rare skill due to the way humans have developed over time. Not everyone can do it, so to learn how, it’s important to first know what’s involved. With a better idea of what to expect, practicing how to do it is simply a matter of warming your whole face up and then concentrating on the muscles involved.
Steps
Part 1 Part 1 of 3:
Facial Muscles
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1 Keep your expectations realistic. You’re probably not pinning all your hopes and dreams on the ability to wiggle your ears, but just in case you are, brace yourself. Accept the possibility that you may not be physically capable. So don’t beat yourself up if nothing happens! Blame your ancestors instead.[1]XResearch source
Wiggling your ears is what’s known as a “vestigial” trait. This means that, once upon a time, our ancestors were all able to do this quite easily. But since it doesn’t serve any real purpose, people just quit doing it, so over time humans lost the ability to do it so easily.
There’s some debate about how many people are still able to do it. Some believe that only a small percent are capable, while others believe that more people than that can relearn how to do it with practice.
2 Identify the muscles needed. To truly master wiggling your ears, concentrate on not one, but three different muscles: the auricularis anterior, posterior, and superior. Don’t worry about the fancy names, though. Just focus on what each muscles does.[2]XResearch source
The auricularis anterior lifts the ear both upward and toward your face.
The auricularis posterior draws it toward the back of your head.
The auricularis superiors only lifts it upward.
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3 Practice other facial tricks first. Some people have found that learning to control other specific muscles in your face makes learning how to wiggle your ears easier. So if there’s another trick that you find easier to do, start off with that instead. Then, once you learn how to manipulate one small cluster of muscles, switch back to your ears. You could try learning how to:[3]XResearch source
Raise only one eyebrow.
Roll or dart just one eye at a time.
Flare your nostrils.
Shrink and dilate your pupils.
Advertisement Part 2 Part 2 of 3:
Warmups
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1 Locate your ears’ muscles by flexing others. Expect the muscles in your face to affect other neighboring ones whenever they contract or expand. Use this to really feel how your ears move in relation to other facial features. Try to isolate the muscles in and around your ears as you do.
As an experiment, raise your hand. Curl your fingers into a fist and squeeze. Most likely you’ll feel the muscles in your forearm tighten without you having to command them to.
2 Dart your eyes from side to side. These may possibly have the strongest and most direct effect on your ears’ muscles. To see how, look to either side of you without turning your head or neck. Concentrate on your ears as you do. Chances are that you will feel one or both pull back.[4]XResearch source
You’ll probably look a little crazy, but go with it and just go nuts with your eyes. Look in all directions, roll them around, or anything else that comes to mind. Feel how each action might tug your ears forward or push them back.
3 Move your brow muscles up and down. If you can raise one eyebrow at a time, do it. If not, raise both. Then furrow your brow like you’re really mad. Alternate between the two and vary speeds. Keep your focus on your ears and how their muscles respond.[5]XResearch source
4 Smile. Grin like you’re the Joker, nice and wide. Lift your cheeks as you do. As before, concentrate on what your ears do in response so you can isolate the muscles there.[6]XResearch source
Advertisement Part 3 Part 3 of 3:
Moving Your Ears
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1 Experiment with moving all three muscles. Don’t worry about mastering any one motion just yet. For now, see if you can move them at all. Once you’ve warmed your face up and isolated where your ears’ muscles are grouped, flex them any which way you can. Alternate between trying to move them up, backward, and forward.[7]XResearch source
2 Focus on one muscle at first if needed. If you have instant control over all three muscles, good for you! But if you find that you have far more control over just one or two, focus on those for now. Continue flexing and relaxing each one to strengthen both that muscle and the ones connected to it.
3 Move on to the others one by one. As you gain more and more control over the first muscle that you focused on, move on to whichever one feels the most responsive. Practice that by itself at first, and then start alternating between that and the one from before. Then, when both start feeling more natural, move on to the last muscle and repeat.
4 Use visual aids if needed. If you’re not quite sure that anything’s happening, don’t rely on feel alone. Set up a mirror so you can watch them in action. Put on a pair of glasses or shades so you can see and feel them move along with your ears.
5 Practice, practice, practice. Remember that wiggling your ears is kind of a pointless skill, so expect those muscles to be pretty weak because you’ve never had any reason to engage them. Keep it up even if it doesn’t seem like much of anything is happening when you flex them. Give them time to strengthen so they can work up to the challenge.[8]XResearch source
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Question Are there any benefits to wiggling your ears? Community Answer The fun of being able to show off your new skill is a benefit. Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.Thank you for your feedback. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow Yes No Not Helpful 62 Helpful 175
Question This thing is impossible. Either that or my ears are lifeless. Any tips? Community Answer Concentrate on the muscle behind your chin (not your jaw). Don't just sit there and expect them to move, because they won't. Put your pointer finger right behind your ear. If you have to at first, move your eyebrows. Your ears might move as well. If you do this everyday, you will be able to do it without moving any other muscles except your ear ones. Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.Thank you for your feedback. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow Yes No Not Helpful 40 Helpful 93
Question I can't find the muscle to wiggle my ears! How do you do that? Community Answer Unfortunately, some people just don't have the vestigial muscle that lets people wiggle their ears. Not everyone can do it. Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.Thank you for your feedback. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow Yes No Not Helpful 119 Helpful 163
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Tips
Don't get too frustrated if it takes a while to learn. Ear wiggling is not a very useful skill, so there's no harm in not being able to do it! Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Tips from our Readers
The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.
If you want to learn it, press your hand to your eyebrows and the other hand to your forehead. Then try wiggling because then, your eyebrows and forehead cant move anymore.
Try jumping and/or hopping up and down while shaking your head. This trick actually worked for my friends!
Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published Name Please provide your name and last initial Submit Thanks for submitting a tip for review! Advertisement
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Co-authored by: wikiHow Staff wikiHow Staff Writer This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been viewed 980,981 times. How helpful is this? Co-authors: 69Updated: January 22, 2026 Views: 980,981 Categories: Featured Articles | Body Tricks In other languages Spanish Portuguese Italian German Russian Indonesian French Dutch Thai Japanese
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Co-authored by: wikiHow Staff wikiHow Staff Writer This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been viewed 980,981 times. How helpful is this? Co-authors: 69 Updated: January 22, 2026 Views: 980,981 Categories: Featured Articles | Body Tricks In other languages Spanish Portuguese Italian German Russian Indonesian French Dutch Thai Japanese 
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1 Keep your expectations realistic. You’re probably not pinning all your hopes and dreams on the ability to wiggle your ears, but just in case you are, brace yourself. Accept the possibility that you may not be physically capable. So don’t beat yourself up if nothing happens! Blame your ancestors instead.[1] 
2 Identify the muscles needed. To truly master wiggling your ears, concentrate on not one, but three different muscles: the auricularis anterior, posterior, and superior. Don’t worry about the fancy names, though. Just focus on what each muscles does.[2] 
3 Practice other facial tricks first. Some people have found that learning to control other specific muscles in your face makes learning how to wiggle your ears easier. So if there’s another trick that you find easier to do, start off with that instead. Then, once you learn how to manipulate one small cluster of muscles, switch back to your ears. You could try learning how to:[3] 
1 Locate your ears’ muscles by flexing others. Expect the muscles in your face to affect other neighboring ones whenever they contract or expand. Use this to really feel how your ears move in relation to other facial features. Try to isolate the muscles in and around your ears as you do. 
2 Dart your eyes from side to side. These may possibly have the strongest and most direct effect on your ears’ muscles. To see how, look to either side of you without turning your head or neck. Concentrate on your ears as you do. Chances are that you will feel one or both pull back.[4] 
3 Move your brow muscles up and down. If you can raise one eyebrow at a time, do it. If not, raise both. Then furrow your brow like you’re really mad. Alternate between the two and vary speeds. Keep your focus on your ears and how their muscles respond.[5] 
4 Smile. Grin like you’re the Joker, nice and wide. Lift your cheeks as you do. As before, concentrate on what your ears do in response so you can isolate the muscles there.[6] Advertisement 
1 Experiment with moving all three muscles. Don’t worry about mastering any one motion just yet. For now, see if you can move them at all. Once you’ve warmed your face up and isolated where your ears’ muscles are grouped, flex them any which way you can. Alternate between trying to move them up, backward, and forward.[7] 
2 Focus on one muscle at first if needed. If you have instant control over all three muscles, good for you! But if you find that you have far more control over just one or two, focus on those for now. Continue flexing and relaxing each one to strengthen both that muscle and the ones connected to it. 
3 Move on to the others one by one. As you gain more and more control over the first muscle that you focused on, move on to whichever one feels the most responsive. Practice that by itself at first, and then start alternating between that and the one from before. Then, when both start feeling more natural, move on to the last muscle and repeat. 
4 Use visual aids if needed. If you’re not quite sure that anything’s happening, don’t rely on feel alone. Set up a mirror so you can watch them in action. Put on a pair of glasses or shades so you can see and feel them move along with your ears. 
5 Practice, practice, practice. Remember that wiggling your ears is kind of a pointless skill, so expect those muscles to be pretty weak because you’ve never had any reason to engage them. Keep it up even if it doesn’t seem like much of anything is happening when you flex them. Give them time to strengthen so they can work up to the challenge.[8] Advertisement 
Community Answer The fun of being able to show off your new skill is a benefit. Thanks! We're glad this was helpful. Thank you for your feedback. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow Yes No Not Helpful 62 Helpful 175 
Community Answer Concentrate on the muscle behind your chin (not your jaw). Don't just sit there and expect them to move, because they won't. Put your pointer finger right behind your ear. If you have to at first, move your eyebrows. Your ears might move as well. If you do this everyday, you will be able to do it without moving any other muscles except your ear ones. Thanks! We're glad this was helpful. Thank you for your feedback. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow Yes No Not Helpful 40 Helpful 93 
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