Independent newsroom

Thursday, October 29, 2026

The File

Every claim traces to a primary source. Uncertainty is labeled. Corrections are public.

Forensics · Thursday, October 29, 2026

Forensic face examiners leaned on ears, NIST researcher says

The File desk · Oct. 29, 2026, 6:35 a.m. ET

Partially confirmed1 primary sources

Status

Partially confirmed. NIST published Carina Hahn's blog post on October 28, 2026. The finding is hers, on that page. A separate paper was not linked.
  • Confirmed
    NIST posted the Taking Measure essay by Carina Hahn on October 28, 2026.
  • Partially confirmed
    The ear finding is stated in the essay. The post does not link a journal article, a sample size, or a report number.
Forensic face examiners were more accurate when they could see only the ears than when they could see almost any other single part of the face, Carina Hahn, a NIST researcher, wrote on Wednesday.1
NIST is the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the federal laboratory that sets measurement standards. A forensic facial examiner compares pictures, including surveillance video, and judges whether they show the same person.1
Hahn wrote that her study showed examiners one part of the face at a time. "It was the ears," she wrote. Foreheads, she added, were also helpful.1
She described two kinds of people who are good at faces. One group, which she called super-recognizers, she said often cannot explain how they do it. The other is the professionals. Her essay says she studied the professionals. She tied the broader effort to a 2009 National Academy of Sciences report that, she wrote, found many forensic fields were not backed by evidence. This desk did not open that report.1
Why it matters (Estimate). Estimate. If the people who identify faces in criminal cases do their best work from the ears, a photo that crops the ears is a different kind of evidence than a full face. Hahn says she wants examiners trained on methods a judge and a jury can follow. The essay does not say any court has changed a rule, and it does not give the size of the study.
The post is a first-person essay on NIST's Taking Measure blog. It names no journal, no number of examiners, and no error rate.
How we know

Notes

  1. 1.Carina Hahn, “Facial Recognition Experts Can Identify You by … Your Ears?,” NIST Taking Measure, October 28, 2026. https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/facial-recognition-experts-can-identify-you-your-ears “Our research showed that examiners were more likely to be accurate when they saw only the ears than when they saw almost any other part of the face.” “It was the ears.” “Foreheads were also really helpful.” She describes “super-recognizers” and professional examiners, and says a 2009 National Academy of Sciences report “found that many forensic science disciplines were not supported by evidence.” Photo credit on the page: Megan King/NIST. No journal link and no sample size appear in the essay.

What is still unknown or disputed

  • The number of examiners tested, and the size of the accuracy gap. Not in the post.
  • Where the study was published. No paper is linked.
  • Whether the 2009 National Academy of Sciences report says what the essay attributes to it. The report was not opened.

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    Facial Recognition Experts Can Identify You by … Your Ears?

    National Institute of Standards and Technology · October 28, 2026

    NIST researcher Carina Hahn wrote that face examiners were more accurate from the ears alone than from almost any other single facial feature.

    https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/facial-recognition-experts-can-identify-you-your-ears