That thing is huge. Wouldn't he have known that something was in his ear prior to the biting and noise? I can tell when I've got a bit of wax in the canal. Something the size of a pen tip, I would definitely know was in there.
I hate bugs. That is one of the reasons I moved to CO. And overall there are less out here. But I have been spraying around my house for Black Widows. I never saw a Black Widow in Iowa. Here, there appears to be plenty of them.