This is an intriguing paper showing that the eardrums move in conjunction with the eyes. Specifically, when the eyes saccade to the left, the eardrums move to the right (and conversely), and then oscillate at 30 Hz for a few cycles (possibly more, as the dampening could be the result of averaging). These oscillations are not that small, equivalent to 57 dB. Eardrum movements seem to start slightly before eye movements, which suggests that it is a result of anticipatory control from the central nervous system (rather than feedback or coupling). Naturally, one wonders what influence this might have on auditory perception, in particular on spatial perception of sounds. The fact that the oscillation is at the bottom of the audible spectrum might argue for a small role; on the other hand, one wonders what function this anticipatory control might serve if not perceptual. More generally, it makes me wonder to what extent results obtained on anesthesized animals (which form the majority of our knowledge on the auditory system), where the efferent system is down, are meaningful for the physiological condition. Intriguing!