Dear Peter,
There is limited information that suggests a possible difference in right vs. left unilateral hearing loss, at least in children. The following references are taken from “Workshop Proceedings: National Workshop on Mild and Unilateral Hearing Loss” , held in 2005. If you Google the title, you will get a PDF of the proceedings. More research is needed in this area.
64 Schmithorst VJ, Holland SK, Ret J, Duggins A, Arjmand E, Greinwald J. Cortical reorganization in children with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Neuroreport. 2005;16(5):463–7.
42 Bess FH, Tharpe AM. An introduction to unilateral sensorineural hearing loss in children. Ear Hear.1986;7:3–13.
12 Oyler RF, Oyler AL, Matkin ND. Unilateral hearing loss: demographics and educational impact. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. 1988;19:201–10.
55 Hartvig Jensen J, Borre S, Johansen J. Unilateral sensorineural hearing loss in children: cognitive abilities with respect to right/left ear differences. Br J Audiol. 1989;23:215–220.
65 Hartvig Jensen J, Johansen PA, Borre S. Unilateral sensorineural hearing loss in children and auditory performance with respect to right/left ear differences. Br J Audiol. 1989;23:207–213.
Sincerely,
Dawna Lewis
**************************************
Dawna Lewis, PhD
Staff Scientist
Director, Listening and Learning Lab
Boys Town National Research Hospital
555 N. 30th Street
Omaha, NE 68131
email: Dawna.Lewis@xxxxxxxxxxxx
ph: 402-498-6607
fax: 402-498-6351
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From: AUDITORY - Research in Auditory Perception [mailto:AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Peter van Hengel
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 5:56 AM
To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AUDITORY] Unilateral hearing loss
Dear list,
a colleague of mine is very interested in unilateral hearing loss. He's been working in audiology for over 30 years and claims that in his experience it is much more common for the left ear to be affected than the right. Furthermore, if the right ear is affected, and the person is also right-handed, the problems with processing auditory information are much larger than in cases of left-sided hearing loss and/or left-handedness. However, he does not know of any publications on the subject. Is there anyone on the list who knows?
All the best,
Peter van Hengel
Audiologisch Centrum Twente
the Netherlands