Can you recognise celebrities by their EARS? Take the test – as research reveals forensic experts only need one facial feature to identify individuals

By SHIVALI BEST, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Published: 14:00 EDT, 21 October 2026 | Updated: 14:00 EDT, 21 October 2026

When it comes to memorable facial features, the eyes or mouth might be the first to spring to mind.

But according to a new study, it’s actually your ears that could be the key to identifying you.

Scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland showed forensic specialists photos of two faces, alongside a close-up of a single facial feature belonging to one of them.

The results revealed that the ears were the most useful feature for correctly identifying the person.

‘What surprised me most was that specialists could accurately judge identity from a single facial feature most of the time,’ said lead author, Carina Hahn.

‘It’s remarkable how much identity information they can extract from so little.’

So, can you recognise celebrities by their ears alone? Take the test below to find out.

In their study, the team set out to understand exactly how forensic face specialists identify faces during investigations and court trials.

‘Forensic face specialists are tasked with comparing facial images to determine identity, a process often guided by protocols emphasizing a comprehensive analysis of the full face,’ they explained in their study, published in PLOS One.

‘However, the strategies specialists employ regarding feature prioritization and accuracy based on specific features remain under-explored.’

A total of 34 experts were given photos of two similar faces side-by-side, alongside a a photo of a hidden face.

For each pair, they were tasked with identifying which of the two faces matched the hidden face, with as little information as possible.

The results revealed that the experts got 90 per cent of the answers correct on average, and were able to identify the face after seeing just one or two features.

In terms of the specific features, the results showed that seeing the ears and forehead proved to be the most useful.

In contrast, necks and chins were the least helpful features.

A total of 34 experts were given photos of two similar faces side-by-side, alongside a a photo of a hidden face. For each pair, they were tasked with identifying which of the two faces matched the hidden face, with as little information as possible.

In terms of the specific features, the results showed that seeing the ears and forehead proved to be the most useful. In contrast, necks and chins were the least helpful features

‘Specialists have a striking ability to adapt their strategy depending on the face in front of them, rather than applying one fixed rule,’ Ms Hahn said.

‘The combination of relying on features known to be useful, like ears, with adjusting when needed, hasn’t been documented before.’

According to the researchers, the findings have ‘significant implications’ for training both human specialist, and AI systems.

‘It is feasible that facial specialists could significantly contribute to forensic contexts by assisting in training face recognition algorithms,’ the team added in their study.

‘Existing literature indicates that combining human and algorithmic decision-making yields more accurate outcomes than either approach alone.

‘Studies have already begun to examine how skilled individuals can improve face matching algorithms, demonstrating that visual fixations from experts can enhance algorithmic accuracy and that visual information sampled from viewing patterns face super-recognizers improved identity matching accuracy in a set of deep neural networks.

‘Future research should explore how trained face expert-defined diagnostic features can further enhance the reliability of face recognition algorithms.’