Sexual Differentiation of the Human Nervous System:
Sex differences have also been reported in cognitive function:
men are lateralized in auditory function: most men can hear better with their right ear than with their left
in contrast, women tend to be less lateralized in auditory processing, hearing equally well with right and left ears
Women exposed to a synthetic estrogen in utero show higher levels of lateralization in auditory function:
in 1950s and 1960s, diethylstilbestrol (DES--synthetic estrogen) was given to pregnant women to prevent miscarriages
women exposed to DES in utero were more lateralized in word detection than their sisters that were not exposed to the drug
in females, exposure to exogenous estrogen can masculinize auditory function
in males, testosterone is most likely aromatized to estrogen which leads to lateralization of auditory function