NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE EXPOSURE OF A GROUP OF TELEPHONISTS TO UNUSUAL AUDITORY-STIMULI

A group of 144 right-handed telephone operators reported a number of p sychosomatic complaints after long-lasting unusual presentation of aud itory stimuli to their left ears during working hours. The main findin g of the study of their hemisphere organisation for verbal stimuli, as measured by dichotic listening to pairs of digits, is that the group displayed a clear shift of the right-ear preference to the left and di ffered significantly from the control group of 40 persons. The finding was verified by a follow-up study conducted eight years later.