People's left and right ears are never the same. Each has their own and distinct hearing abilities, reflecting, in fact, the functional asymmetry of our brain.
The sounds coming from the right ear are processed by the left cerebral hemisphere and vice versa. While the right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for processing non-verbal sound information, such as pitch, intensity and timbre, the preponderance of the left ear in listening to music and ambient sounds.
To determine which is the dominant ear, we have to pay attention to how we approach the interlocutors who are talking to us. If we turn the left cheek, the dominant ear will be the left.
In most cases (90%), the dominant ear is the one that is directly connected to the left hemisphere of the brain (hemisphere responsible for the right function of external inputs).
Unilateral deafness is defined as a hearing loss in which one ear (the good hear) hears well or nearly well, while the other has severe or profound hearing loss. If the hearing loss is severe or profound, the person hears only out of one ear.
Unilateral hearing loss can affect both children and adults and it is not uncommon. It is not known exactly how many people live with this condition, but it is estimated that 60,000 people in the United States alone have one-sided hearing loss.
