Effects of Handedness and Gender on Auditory Attention in Bergen Dichotic Listening

The effects of handedness and gender were studied in this research by using Bergen Dichotic listening test, which measures both divided and selective attentions. The Persian version of Bergen dichotic listening test was used to evaluate non-forced attention, attention to right and attention to left ears on 75 young adults, including 54 right-handed and 21 left-handed individuals, with normal hearing in ages ranging from 18 to 30 years old. Right ear advantage (REA) with the mean score of 78.4% and 94.7% in the two conditions of non-forced attention and attention to the right ear, and left ear advantage (LEA) with the mean score of 81.3% in attention to the left ear were obtained. Sex had no effect on the results, but significant difference was found between right and left hand people in non-forced attention and attention to the right (p<0.029). Top-down processing of brain cortex in selective attention modulated bottom-up processing in divided attention task by changing right ear advantage. Our results demonstrated the application of Bergen dichotic listening test to evaluate auditory attention, language laterality and handedness.