research: right vs left ear

Sarah Fox sarah@graphic-fusion.com
Thu, 16 Sep 2004 17:42:14 -0400


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Hi Dave,

>>A couple of days late(my phone line was down for a couple of days, so =
no connect), but I had to chime in.  I'm a left ear guy, too.  Are =
people who are left-handed more prone to being right-eared??  The =
possibilities are endless.=20

Well, about 90% of the population is left-handed.  Of those people, =
almost all are left-dominant for language.  Of the 10% of left handed =
folks, about half are left-dominant for language, and half are =
right-dominant.  So yes, handedness is an indication of brain =
lateralization, loosely.  I would fully expect that this lateralization =
of "ear" function follows the lines of language lateralization, so I'd =
guess that about half of the lefties would prefer listening to beats =
with their left ears and tones with their right ears, while *perhaps* a =
slight majority of right-handed folks would prefer the opposite.  I bet =
this would be a pretty weak preference, though.=20

I would guess that a much more influential determinant of a piano =
tuner's ear preference is postural.  Think about it:  It's going to be =
easier to turn one ear or the other towards the piano, depending on =
which hand holds the tuning hammer.  I bet that's the ear that gets the =
most training and becomes the tuner's "critical ear."  Fortunately for =
95% of you, these would just happen to align, with the ear towards the =
piano feeding info directly to the language-dominant hemisphere (which =
would presumably be more adept at decoding sound patterns like beats).

Peace,
Sarah



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