RT Journal Article
T1 A revision of the conductive hearing loss in Cranium 4 from the Middle Pleistocene site of Sima de los Huesos (Burgos, Spain)
A1 Conde Valverde, Mercedes
A1 Rosa, Manuel
A1 Martínez, Ignacio
A1 Marchamalo, Julio
A1 Pantoja Pérez, Ana
A1 Quam, Rolf
A1 Lorenzo, Carlos
A1 Gracia Téllez, Ana
A1 García Fernández, Alfredo
A1 Arsuaga Ferreras, Juan Luis
A1 Rivera Rodríguez, Teresa
AB Pathological conditions have been previously documented in the Middle Pleistocene Sima de los Huesos hominins from northern Spain, and several of these have clear behavioral implications. Within this fossil assemblage, Cranium 4 shows bilateral external auditory exostoses which have been preliminarily interpreted as causing a significant hearing loss in this individual. If confirmed, this would be the oldest recorded case of deafness in human history and could have important implications for the antiquity of this condition, as well as social interactions. To further investigate this case, the current study presents 3D reconstructions of the entire outer and middle ear, based on computed tomography scans of both temporal bones in Cranium 4. We established the degree of stenosis in both external auditory canals, showing that in both cases the degree of stenosis is less than 52% of the original cross-sectional area of each canal. Based on clinical studies in living humans, the buildup of wax due to the degree of stenosis in Cranium 4 is unlikely to have caused frequent external ear infections. In addition, we estimated the pattern of sound power transmission up to 5 kHz in both ears relying on a comprehensive model developed in the bioengineering literature and which has been applied previously to the Sima de los Huesos hominins. The model was modified to account for the peculiar shape of the pathological external ear canals in Cranium 4. The results show that this pathology had little to no influence on the sound power transmission in this individual. Thus, we conclude that the exostoses present in both ears of Cranium 4 did not significantly affect their hearing.
PB Elsevier
SN 0047-2484, ESSN: 1095-8606
YR 2019
FD 2019-10
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/13922
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/13922
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN)
NO Universidad de Alcalá
NO Fundación Atapuerca
DS Docta Complutense
RD 26 feb 2026