- A new study found that women’s hearing is roughly two decibels more sensitive than men’s. Researchers conducted hearing tests on 450 people across 19 populations, including Ecuador, England, Gabon, South Africa and Uzbekistan.
- According to the researchers, women were also better at perceiving speech and processing the information.
- Greater hearing sensitivity isn’t necessarily a good thing, as noise can affect everything from sleep to cardiovascular disease.
Full Story
While traditional gender stereotypes suggest that women are better at listening than men, a new study reveals they’re also better at hearing. According to researchers from the Centre for Biodiversity and Environmental Research (CRBE) in Toulouse, France, women’s hearing is two decibels more sensitive than their male counterparts.
The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, analyzed the hearing of 450 people across 19 populations, including Ecuador, England, Gabon, South Africa and Uzbekistan. The researchers wanted their study to cross ecological and cultural boundaries, spanning underrepresented rural and non-European groups.
“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 study co-author and U.K. professor, Turi King. “This could be due to different exposure to hormones during development in the womb, due to men and women having slight structural differences in cochlear anatomy.”
According to King, and true to those gender stereotypes about listening, women were also better at perceiving speech, “indicating that their brains are also better at processing the information.”
King clarified that greater hearing sensitivity isn’t necessarily a good thing, as noise can have “detrimental” effects on everything from sleep to cardiovascular disease.