Hormones and Auditory Perception: Study of Dichotic Listening in Women during the Menstrual Cycle

Abstract

Introduction Dichotic listening refers to the ability to hear different sounds presented to each ear simultaneously. Objective The aim of the present study was to assess dichotic listening in women throughout the menstrual cycle. Methods The volunteers who met the eligibility criteria participated in a dichotic listening assessment composed of three tests: 1) staggered spondaic word test; 2) dichotic digits test; and 3) consonant-vowel test. The female participants were tested during two different phases of the menstrual cycle: the follicular (days 11 to 13) and luteal (days 23 to 26) phases. The phases were confirmed by measuring serum levels of the hormone estradiol. Results A total of 20 volunteers aged 18 to 49 years participated in the study (9 females and 11 males). In test 1, only the right ear of females showed better performance during the follicular phase (high estrogen levels), compared with the luteal phase (low estrogen levels); in test 2, there were no significant differences for any of the groups; and in test 3, both males and females showed significantly better performance in their right ear compared with their left ear. Conclusion The better performance of females during the follicular phase of the cycle may indicate that estrogen levels might have an influence on dichotic listening in women.

Sex differences and the effect of female sex hormones on auditory function: a systematic review

“…Wadnerkar et al (2008), using consonant-vowel (CV) syllable perception to study sex differences in dichotic listening, reported sex differences in dichotic listening asymmetry at lower estradiol levels, but not at higher estradiol levels. Using dichotic digits, staggered spondaic word, and dichotic consonant-vowel tests to study dichotic listening during the menstrual cycle, Carneiro et al (2019) found sex differences during periods of high levels of estradiol in women when compared to a control group of men. Specifically they found that the right ear in women (compared with the left ear and test session in men) significantly differs during periods of high levels of estradiol in staggered spondaic word and 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1077409 dichotic consonant-vowel tests, but not in dichotic digits (Carneiro et al, 2019).…”

“…In particular, PTA thresholds have been reported to improve during higher levels of estradiol (Souza et al, 2017;Emami et al, 2018;Karaer and Gorkem, 2020). In addition, high levels of female hormones during the menstrual cycle have been found to increase the right ear advantage in women (Cowell et al, 2011;Carneiro et al, 2019) with significant differences being reported for cycle phases with high estradiol levels, i.e., follicular phase (Cowell et al, 2011).…”

Effects of Menstrual Cycles on VOR Gain Functions

“…13 Females perform better on dichotic listening tasks during the menstrual cycle's follicular phase, indicating the influence of estrogen level on dichotic listening in women. 14 As the inner ear's cochlea and vestibular compartments are interconnected with ductus reunions, the inner ear chemical composition changes can affect both the cochlea and the vestibular system during the menstrual cycle in young healthy women. Various reports suggest changes in some of the ocular motor functions in females during the menstrual cycle.…”

“…13 Females perform better on dichotic listening tasks during the menstrual cycle’s follicular phase, indicating the influence of estrogen level on dichotic listening in women. 14…”

The effect of the menstrual cycle on dichotic listening

“…The authors of these studies concluded that increased levels of ovarian hormones increased cognitive control, but did not affect selective attention or an open response condition. Finally, response differences occurred between different phases of the menstrual cycle when more linguistically complex stimuli were used, such as staggered spondaic words and CVC rhyming words [11, 19]…”