Abstract
A cross-sectional, dichotic listening study of 210 righthanded, middle-class children
four to ten years old used thirty pairs of one-syllable words and thirty pairs of
four-syllable numbers to assess the developmental course of ear asymmetry. A significant
decrease in REA for both word and number pairs was found. Although right-ear and left-ear
performance both increased with age, the developmental gain in left-ear performance
was greater than the gain in right-ear performance, thus resulting in a decrease in
REA with age. The results are discussed with respect to investigations which found
no change in REA during development and a structural model based on the development
of interhemispheric connectivity is proposed to explain the findings.
Key words
Ear asymmetry - Speech perception - Hemispheric specialization
