Anyone who recalls whispering at the dinner table as a child likely also has memories of being somehow overheard and reprimanded by a sharp-eared mother even as an oblivious father ploughed through his rice and meat.
The impression that women often have sharper hearing than men might not only ring true for some, but there is also scientific back-up to prove it is true, according to British and French researchers.
Following tests on around 450 people across 13 countries, the team revealed results showing women “typically” having hearing amplitude of around two decibels more sensitive than men.
“Women consistently exhibit higher sensitivity by two decibels in [sic] average across the entire frequency spectrum tested in all populations sampled,” the team said in a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Concluding that female ears can be up to 6 kHz sharper than male ears in some populations, the team said women not only show “heightened cochlear sensitivity” – referring to the fluid-filled part of the inner ear that helps convert sound waves to be read by the brain – but outdo men in other acoustic tests.
This is because women have “superior function in both the peripheral auditory system and the central auditory pathway”, the scientists argue.
“We were surprised to find that women had two decibels more sensitive hearing across all the populations we measured, and this accounted for most of the variations between individuals,” said Britain’s University of Bath geneticist Professor Dr Turi King.
Outside male-female differences, the tests showed that people living in forests have “the highest hearing sensitivity” while mountain men fared worst, with people “living at high altitudes” having what the researchers described as the lowest hearing sensitivity.
The researchers found that population, environment and language all significantly contribute to variations in hearing, depending on factors such as “varying soundscapes”, noise levels and exposure to pollution.
“Our findings challenge existing assumptions and highlight the need to consider both biological and environmental factors when studying hearing,” said research officer Dr Patricia Balaresque of the Centre for Biodiversity and Environmental Research (CRBE) in Toulouse, France. – dpa
