Graduation Year
2026
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
The Department of Natural Sciences
Reader 1
Xiao Zhang
Reader 2
Jenna Monroy
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
2026 Emma L Liang
Abstract
Differences in audition between the sexes are well-documented across animal models and humans, primarily in the context of bioacoustics and audiology. Sex is often a variable in hearing studies, however, investigation of auditory sex differences in humans constitutes a proportionally small part of the existing literature. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what sex differences manifest at peripheral, central, and endocrine domains of the human auditory system, and to evaluate how these differences are expressed across levels of auditory function. It uses the proposed Three-Domain Auditory Physiology Framework to conduct a broader, multi-system evaluation of auditory sex differences in humans in the form of a narrative review. A literature review was conducted to examine evidence for sex-based auditory variation in humans, accounting for a diverse range of physiological and behavioral audiological tests measuring aspects of auditory sensation, processing, and perception. Auditory sex differences in humans are observed at all three domains, however, the inconsistent findings from the cognitive measures of auditory perception suggest that higher-order auditory function does not represent a direct summation of lower-order functional differences. These findings support the interpretation that sex-based biological variation is attenuated or reorganized as auditory information progresses through central processing stages, limiting its expression in functional auditory outcomes. A future direction for this topic is the statistical investigation of the correlative effect of sex for the employed audiological tests. Whether sex is a causal factor or a covariate for observed auditory variation between sexes in humans remains unconfirmed for many of the audiological tests evaluated in this review and begets further investigation.
Recommended Citation
Liang, Emma, "Interpreting Sex Differences in Auditory Function in Humans Across Peripheral, Central, and Endocrine Domains" (2026). Scripps Senior Theses. 2744.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/2744
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
