The auditory literature suggests that ears having spontaneous otoacous
tic emissions (SOAEs) should also evidence overall better hearing in t
he quiet than ears with no SOAEs, but no direct tests of this presumed
relationship have been made. Accordingly, hearing sensitivity was mea
sured in both males and females having either no SOAEs or at least fou
r SOAEs in the right ear. Averaged across frequencies, the hearing of
the subjects with SOAEs was about 3 dB better, in both ears, than the
hearing of the subjects with no SOAEs. In accord with past findings, s
ensitivity was also significantly better in right ears than left. Howe
ver, the common finding of better hearing in females than males did no
t emerge, suggesting that this difference may exist only when the sex
difference in SOAE prevalence is not taken into account. The existence
of a direct relationship between hearing sensitivity in the quiet and
the presence of SOAEs suggests that a common mechanism may be respons
ible for both.