The pinna acts as a funnel to direct sound waves ... aberrations during embryological development can lead to absent auricles (anotia) or deformed auricles/ear canals (microtia, atresia).

From 1930 to 1948, 230 previously untreated skin cancers of the pinna were seen at the tumor clinics of the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Hospital and the Massachusetts General Hospital.