Gender-specific hemispheric asymmetry in auditory space perception.

This study aimed to investigate gender-related functional asymmetries in monaural sound localization in the vertical plane. In a simple pointing task, right-handed subjects localized vertical positions of sound sources using only one ear. Results show that females were more precise when listening with the left ear, while males did better with the right. However, significant differences in monaural localization performance as a function of gender occurred exclusively when listening with the right ear, with males performing substantially more precisely than females. These findings suggest gender-related differences in the intrahemispheric functional organization of the left hemisphere for the processing of monaural spatial cues. It is proposed that the results may be related to the sexual dimorphism of the posterior parietal cortex, or planum temporale, both areas known to be involved in spatial auditory functions.