My five year old, Oakley, would like to ask
Why don't LEGO men have ears?
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Sign up to join this communityI can not give you an answer on behalf of TLG, but I can give you some good reasons as to why Minifigures do not have ears.
Authenticity: Lego figures have never had ears. In fact, the first figures did not even have faces, or articulating limbs. They were very basic. Here is a photo showing the basic evolution of minifigures over the years. The first 'figures' were introduced in the mid-1900s.
Functionability: Adding ears to the head mold would greatly complicate things for Lego. Apart from the fact that ears would be likely to be broken off or get damaged, they would affect the compatability of heads.
All standard mold lego heads can fit just about every mold of hat and hair. However, if TLG started making heads with ears, they would have to redesign every single 'headgear' and 'hair' mold so that they would fit around/over the ears. As a result, for figures where ears are necessary, they are part of the headgear mold, not the head. You can see this in these two examples.
I hope that answers your son's question, and that you can simplify the reasons for him :)
I thought it might be worth including one of the precursors to the beloved Lego minifigures; Maxifigures (Homemaker Figures). They did have ears:
If you compare these hair pieces to those of common minifigures, you can see that there is an implied ear in the profile of the side:
While there are no visible ears recently deaf minifigs have been introduced.
I have Missions Animal rescue 60353 which has a Minifigure with a hearing aid. I don't have or know what other sets have deaf Minifigures. Probably this the closest to ears that can be seen.
Just to add to, or elaborate on, the other good answer(s); It may solely come down to the cost of production. I remember reading on several occasions that the molds were very expensive to make. Having a simplified shape make the part a more universal piece, not just for minifigure heads. That being said, I suppose they could have printed them on. But that has it's own potential problems mentioned in the previous comments.