The human ear has a snail-shaped, fluid-filled structure called the cochlea which plays a crucial role in hearing. It detects sound as vibrations and converts those into nerve signals for the brain.<\/p>\n
A team of international researchers recently conducted a study to check how sensitive the human cochlea is by analyzing its response to sounds of different loudness and pitch.\u00a0The scientists, led by Dr Patricia Balaresque from the Centre for Biodiversity and Environmental Research (CRBE) in France, worked with the hypothesis that age would be the primary factor in influencing cochlear sensitivity. <\/p>\n
However, the results of their study proved the scientists wrong.\u00a0Our \u201cfindings show that hearing amplitude is more influenced by sex than age, with women showing an average of two decibels more sensitive hearing than men across all the populations studied,\u201d the researchers note.<\/p>\n
Factors affecting hearing in humans\u00a0<\/p>\n
The sample of the study involved 450 individuals from 13 countries. This also included people from different environment settings and cultures, especially rural communities and groups from other backgrounds who are often not well-represented in studies.<\/p>\n
Hearing tests were conducted to examine the cochlear sensitivity in all these subjects. The tests\u00a0measured Transient-Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions (TEOAE), soft sounds that the inner ear<\/a> naturally produces when it hears a short sound, like a click or tone.\u00a0<\/p>\n The results revealed some interesting insights. In addition to highlighting that women are better at hearing than men, the study also suggests that the environment in which a person lives plays a big role in their ability to sense sounds<\/a> of different frequencies.<\/p>\n For instance, \u201cpeople living in forest areas had the highest hearing sensitivity and those living at high altitudes having the lowest,\u201d the study authors said. Those living at high altitudes may have weaker hearing due to lower air pressure, less sound in the environment, or body changes from living with less oxygen.<\/p>\n The researchers also saw a difference between those living in urban and rural environments\u2014 people in cities were more tuned in to higher-pitched sounds, possibly because they learn to ignore low-pitched traffic noise.<\/p>\n Why do women have superior hearing?<\/p>\n Across all the groups involved in the study, women consistently outperformed men<\/a> in hearing tests. In fact, in some populations, women\u2019s ears were found to be six kilohertz sharper than men\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n