My cat used to have this problem where she would scratch the outside of her ears, and meow loud when she did it. It got so bad she started taking the fur off her ear. I took her to the vet multiple times, and they couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I said fuck it, bought a plastic cone for her head and strapped it on. I left it on for 2 weeks, only removing it so she could eat and clean herself, but once she was done, back on it went.

I took it off, and she stopped doing it. It was the weirdest thing.

My cat jumps on the counters on knocks things over to get my attention. Crazy wench.