Masculinizing effects on otoacoustic emissions and auditory evoked potentials in women using oral contraceptives

Abstract

The otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) and auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) measured in two separate large scale studies were examined retrospectively for potential differences between those women using, and those not using, oral contraception (OC). Fourteen dependent variables were examined, all of which exhibited substantial sex differences. For 13 of those 14 dependent variables, the means for the users of OC were shifted away from the means of the non-users in the direction of the males. Specifically, for four different measures of OAE strength, for seven of eight measures of AEP latency or amplitude, and for two cognitive tests (mental rotation and water level), the means for the users of OC were located intermediate to those of the non-users of OC and the males. Few of these differences between users and non-users of OC achieved statistical significance, but the near universality of the direction of the difference suggests that oral contraceptives do produce a weak masculinizing effect on some auditory structures. These weak masculinizing effects appear to run contrary to the facts that the levels of both free testosterone and estradiol are lower in women using OC than in normal-cycling women. Past findings on auditory sex differences may have underestimated those sex differences.