Towards understanding the symmetry of human ears: A biometric perspective

In this paper, an analysis of the symmetry of human ears is presented. Such an analysis is essential in order to understand the possibility of matching the left and right ears of an individual, or to reconstruct portions of the ear that may be occluded in a surveillance video. Ear symmetry is assessed geometrically using symmetry operators and Iannarelli's measurements, where the contribution of individual ear regions to the overall symmetry of the ear is studied. Next, to assess the ear symmetry (or asymmetry) from a biométrie recognition system perspective, several experiments were conducted on the WVU Ear Database. Our experiments suggest the existence of some degree of symmetry in the human ears that can perhaps be systematically exploited in the design of commercial ear recognition systems. At the same time, the degree of asymmetry it offers may be used in designing effective fusion schemes that combine the face information with the two ears.