Otoacoustic Emissions as a Window onto Prenatal Development and Sexual Differentiation

ABSTRACT

Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) and auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) exhibit sex differences, and these are present in infants and children as well as in adults. OAEs and AEPs are also different in several special populations of subjects. For females having opposite-sex cotwins (OSDZ females) and for homosexual and bisexual females, average OAE measures are shifted toward those of males. Certain AEP measures from homosexual and bisexual females also are masculinized. Certain AEP measures from homosexual males are hypermasculinized. These and other facts can be explained by assuming that these special populations received greater than normal exposures to androgens at some point(s) during development, possibly during prenatal development. The implication is that the auditory system may be capable of providing insights into the processes of human development and sexual differentiation.

KEYWORD

Homosexuality - auditory system - masculinization - hypermasculinization - androgens

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