The influence of gender, handedness and head-turn on auditory asymmetries

Subjects performed dichotic tasks with their heads turned 90 degrees to the left, 90 degrees to the right, and straight ahead. In Experiment 1 the stimuli were digits and the subjects varied in both sex and handedness. Right-handedness males showed a significant right-ear advantage under the head-right and head-straight conditions, while left-handed males and both right- and left-handed females failed to show any consistent ear asymmetries. In Experiment 2 the stimuli were melodies and the subjects were all right-handed. Head-turn had no significant influence on the results, and only the males showed a significant left-ear advantage. Overall, the results confirm previous findings that sex and handedness may influence auditory asymmetries, but fail to reveal systematic effects of head turn.