A new study has found that most people prefer to hear out of their left ear rather than their right ear.
By Britta Devore | It has been updated
Sure, you’ve heard of selective hearing before, but did you know that we as humans actually have one ear that we prefer to hear? With the discovery of the world’s oldest brain and new information about the early days of brain surgery, neuroscientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), the University Hospital of Lausanne and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland have arrived. According to a strange discovery border – Our brain prefers hearing left over right.
In their study, the researchers asked 13 adults for help by hitting them with pleasant sounds, such as laughter, and found that there was more activity in people with left hearing. While it’s not yet clear why sounds coming from the left are more interesting than those coming from the right, the finding is a big step forward in how future studies are conducted.
Not the first of its kind, the left-brain findings reinforce previous attempts to better understand how we as humans process information. In the past, scientists discovered that the left ear is better at picking up a person’s voice, this discovery served as a building block for the theory of left hearing. One reason this may be the preferred ear for taking in information is that the left ear drives information to the right hemisphere of the auditory cortex first, allowing us to process sensation.
The previous theory was that the right ear is closer to the auditory cortex of the right hemisphere, so it would be a better choice for receiving sensory information. Thanks to a recent study, it was determined that this could not be the case, with the students’ left, right, and center auditory systems being tested on the left side, producing a remarkable neural response. As one of the neuroscientists on the case explained, the same cannot be said for the left-hand winner in both the center and right tests.
Surprisingly, when they flipped the study on its head and ran “neutral or negative emotional valence,” it didn’t have the same effect on the left side. In many cases, all parts of our hearing system work together and pick up the sounds that fill the air around us, but when it comes to this particular study, it’s all about hearing in the left ear, which transmits positive sounds and sounds to our brain.
What lies beyond this discovery of right, center, and left hearing is unclear, but researchers plan to invest more time and resources into better understanding why this happens. A so-called “unique human trait,” similar conditions have not been found in other organisms. Once more is understood, the scientists hope to better understand how other factors, such as hand preference, are related.
Although many questions about science and our galaxy still need to be answered, this study is a step forward in understanding one of our fundamental physical functions. With Elon Musk hoping to implant brain chips in our heads, understanding how our right, middle, and left hearing functions is definitely something we’re concerned about.