Profile view of a man's outer ear (auricle or pinna). This trumpet-shaped funnel is not essential in man to the sense of hearing, although in other animals it appears to play an important role: it is essentially a framework of elastic cartilage covered by skin, with a lobule of fat at the end (the earlobe). A tube (the external auditory meatus) joins the outer ear to the middle ear, where the ear drum divides the 2 sections. This passage is short in young children, and it lengthens to 1in. as the cranial bones develop. The meatus is lined with fine hairs, and glands which secrete a small amount of wax.