From All Over: GenderNews Posted
March 23
1998

This study was widely reported early in March. The information here is from an AP report in the "Science Times" section of the March 3rd New York Times and an article by Lisa Keen in the March 6th New York Blade News.


Scientists Theorize That Lesbians' Hearing
(and More) is Masculinized Before Birth

Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, have found a difference in the working of the cochlea, a part of the inner ear, between lesbian and non-lesbian women. They studied more than 200 young adults categorized as heterosexual female, lesbian, bisexual female, heterosexual male, gay male, or bisexual male. They found that as a group, all women had more sensitive hearing (as measured by the output of the cohlea) than men, but that the lesbians and bisexual women had less sensitivity than the heterosexual women. The researchers claim this as the first significant finding of a physical difference between lesbian and non- lesbian women.

The study was published March 3 in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Its lead author is Dr. Dennis McFadden, a professor of experimental psychology. Because the function of the cochlea is affected prenatally by androgens (male hormones) and rarely changes later, he said of the lesbians and bisexual women that "Their auditory centers have been masculinized, and the presumption is that so have the sites in the brain that direct sexual preference". [Emphasis added.]

The study found no differences in the output of the cochlea between the homosexual and heterosexual males. The researchers tried to eliminate from their study anyone whose auditory system had been subject to factors known to affect hearing, such as environmental noise or certain drugs.

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