ma seme li soweli pi wile moku?

[janMato]

that would force a verbal sense. Otherwise, kute seems like it could mean as a noun "things that hear", "things heard", "the act of hearing", "a hearing" and so on.

I think nena kute has become common because 'ears' are in the Pije lesson's as such. Also, there is the distinction between ears as organs of sound (which may be closer to just 'kute' or 'lupa kute'), and ears as flaps sticking out of one's head (and apparently potentially flammable).

mama mi li wile e ni: mi kama jan pi sijelo pona pi nena kute en uta.
My mom wants be to become an otologist.

tempo suno ale la mi kepeken e ilo kalama pi lupa kute lon ma pali mi tan ni: jan pali sama mi li kalama mute sama kulupu pi waso nasa pi telo suli.
I wear ear canal headphones at the office all day because my co-workers are like a flock of crazy seagulls.

soweli li kama selo e nena kute sama tan ni: soweli li jo e lawa insa lili lili.
Pig set his ears on fire because he's rather stupid.

[janKipo]

'jan pi pona sijelo' or directly to 'pi pona pi nena kute en uta' (though that is more ambiguous, I think).
"crazy seagulls" is redundant, at least where noise is concerned.
'jan pali sama mi' looks good: 'jan pali sama' ought to be people who work at the same place or some such (at least at the same sort of job -- but the 'mi' ties it down a bit)
'kama selI' and the 'kama' is not really needed unless this is to emphasize the accidentality of it all.