No shit, I'm going deaf. I can't walk down the street without being tooted/honked/beeped/whatever by every fucking car that goes past. And it's not just because I've got such an awesome physique that warrants attention. It's just as much because my shoulders hang 2 metres off the footpath over the road. You know, if ears weren't cartilage, I'd work them out to be fucking huge.
Blowing up this balloon is a testament to this guy's ear strength:

Yeah, this guy has got strong ears, but if they're not big, what's the fucking point?