Application of iannarelli ear biometrics on the young adult malaysian populations

Forensic experts and physical anthropologists are using the morphological features of human as “Biometrics” traits to identify suspects or victims according to age, gender, and race. The present study aims to determine the racial and sexual variation regarding the morphometric and biometric of external ear among malaysian young adults through the iannarelli ear biometrics. The study included 294 subjects (147 males and 147 females) aged 18 - 30 years. The Iannarelli's ear measurement method was used with its twelve biometric points in this research. The racial and sexual variation potential of all variables was evaluated. The results showed no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) between the left and right ears. There are highly significant Sexual variations in eight out of the measured fourteen ear biometrics (p < 0.05). This study can be used for quantitative description of auricle considering sexual and racial variation. The data obtained can be used for Malaysian population identification either in live or dead persons. Furthermore, this research demonstrated the crucial role of ear biometrics in gender estimation that may enable using the ear prints and accepting it as a strong evidence in the court in Malaysia.