ABSTRACT
Evidence exists suggesting that the nature of presbycusis may differ between men and
women. The most notable and well-researched gender difference is for pure-tone thresholds:
older men have substantially more high-frequency hearing loss and slightly less low-frequency
hearing loss, as compared with older women. Although the differential amount of high-frequency
hearing loss can be primarily attributed to greater noise exposure in men, the low-frequency
difference is not easily explained by experiential factors. Moreover, the pattern
of hearing loss over time also differs between men and women. Other gender differences
in auditory function, noted as early as childhood, appear to be endogenous in nature.
An increasing body of evidence suggests that some of these gender differences may
be based on hormonal factors.
KEYWORD
Aging - hearing - speech recognition - presbycusis - gender differences
