I consider my ears and my neck a huge erogenous zone…I will break out in goose-bumps EVERYWHERE and melt into a puddle if this fact is taken advantage of…but even if the contact is playful/slight/brief, I get mild goosebumps on that side of my body, or on my arms, or chest, whatever.
I guess I have a lot of sensitivity there.
I don’t know about other peoples’ reactions, but I will say that I don’t find it at all unusual that Mrs. Essell reacts the way she does. If I breathe and hum in my boyfriend’s ears for any length of time he laughs so hard he loses his mind, to the point that the mere threat of it sends him into fits.
I would assume there’s a lot of nerve-endings there, and that would explain all the reactions.