Studies have found that women have more acute hearing than men, with gender and environmental factors having a greater influence.

Researchers have found that gender is the primary factor explaining differences in hearing sensitivity, with women having significantly more acute hearing than men.

Hearing problems are on the rise globally. While it is well known that hearing sensitivity declines with age, research on other biological and environmental factors that affect hearing, such as sex, left-right ear differences, language, ethnicity, and local environment, is scarce.

The research team was led by Dr. Patricia Balasque of the Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research (CRBE) in Toulouse, France, with Professor Turi King of the University of Bath in the UK also participating. They conducted hearing tests on 450 people from 13 different groups around the world, including those from Ecuador, the UK, Gabon, South Africa, and Uzbekistan.

These populations were chosen to cover a wide range of ecological and cultural backgrounds, including rural and non-European groups that have been less covered in previous studies.

Researchers investigated the sensitivity of the cochlea in the human ear by measuring so-called transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) to observe how the cochlea transmits signals to the brain at different sound amplitudes and frequencies.

It is generally known that hearing is usually better in the right ear than in the left, and that hearing generally declines with age. However, researchers were surprised by the results regarding the influence of gender and environmental factors.

Their findings were published in *Scientific Reports*. The results showed that hearing amplitude is more affected by gender than by age. Across all the populations studied, women's hearing was, on average, two decibels more acute than men's.

The second major influencing factor is the environment. The environment not only affects people's response to volume, but also the range of sound frequencies that people can perceive.

People living in forest areas have the highest hearing sensitivity, while those living in high-altitude areas have the lowest hearing sensitivity.

They found that differences in hearing among different groups are largely caused by a combination of factors such as population, environment, and language. However, it is not yet clear whether this is due to the overall influence of the environment on the human body or due to long-term adaptation to different soundscapes, noise levels, or exposure to pollution.

Researchers believe that people living in forests have higher hearing sensitivity, possibly because they are adapted to an environment filled with a large number of non-human sounds, in which staying alert is crucial for survival. It could also be due to lower levels of pollution they are exposed to.

People living at high altitudes may have lower hearing sensitivity for various reasons, including the influence of low air pressure on measurement results, the potential obstruction of sound propagation in high-altitude environments, or the body's physiological adaptation to low oxygen levels.

The research team also discovered differences between urban and rural populations. People living in cities were more sensitive to high-frequency sounds, possibly because they filtered out low-frequency traffic noise.

Professor Turi King, director of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, collected samples from UK participants while working at the University of Leicester. She is also a co-author of the study. She said: "We know that hearing typically declines with age, and that prolonged exposure to loud noise and chemicals such as tobacco smoke can damage hearing."

"We want to study in more detail what factors shape our hearing, the diversity of hearing sensitivity, and how our hearing adapts to the local environment."

"We were surprised to find that, across all the populations we measured, women's hearing was two decibels more acute than men's, which is the main reason for the differences in hearing between individuals. This may be due to the different hormones that men and women are exposed to during development in the womb, or it may be due to subtle differences in the anatomy of the cochlea between men and women."

"In addition to having higher hearing sensitivity, women also perform better in other hearing tests and speech perception, suggesting that their brains are better at processing information. We don't fully understand why, but given the adverse effects of noise on overall health, such as decreased sleep quality and increased risk of cardiovascular disease, having more acute hearing in noisy environments is not always a good thing."

Dr. Patricia Balasque said, "Our findings challenge existing assumptions and underscore the importance of considering both biological and environmental factors when studying hearing. Identifying the driving forces behind natural differences in hearing will help us better understand hearing loss and individual differences in noise tolerance."

Professor Jin said, "We know that humans are still evolving, so the next question is whether our hearing can adapt to different environments in general, or whether genetic adaptation is involved."

More information: Patricia Balaresque et al, Sex and environment shape cochlear sensitivity in human populations worldwide, Scientific Reports (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-92763-6

Information source: medicalxpress

This article is reprinted from: 21dB Acoustics