A researcher from the University of Maryland presented findings at the 190th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America suggesting that hormonal fluctuations across a person’s lifespan produce measurably different auditory outcomes in men and women — with implications for how clinicians approach diagnosis and management of hearing loss.
New research presented at the 190th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) in Philadelphia underscores what many clinicians have long suspected: men and women do not experience hearing — or hearing decline — in the same way.
Anhelina Bilokon, a researcher at the University of Maryland, presented work on sex-dependent auditory variability on May 13, 2026, drawing on reanalysis of existing auditory data to examine how hormonal changes shape hearing function across the lifespan.
“Hearing is quite precise and sensitive, and because of that, even small hormonal changes in the areas that regulate and process sound can have an effect,” says Bilokon in a release. “When hormone levels change or fluctuate, the structures and processes that support hearing can change and fluctuate as well.”
Men and Women Follow Different Auditory Trajectories
Bilokon’s work highlights a key distinction in how hearing changes over time by sex. In standard hearing tests, men tend to show an earlier onset of decline that progresses more gradually. Women, by contrast, experience regular monthly fluctuations tied to the menstrual cycle, as well as sharper changes at menopause.
Rather than focusing solely on detection thresholds, Bilokon’s research examines how these auditory processes change and interact with other biologically significant events over time.
“Hearing is not free from the influence of other biological aspects of human health,” she says in a release.
Hormones, Bilokon notes, influence the behavior of cells throughout the brain — including those responsible for processing sound. This means that shifts in hormone levels, whether cyclical or associated with life stages such as menopause, can have downstream effects on auditory function.
A Call for More Sex-Inclusive Research Frameworks
Beyond the clinical implications, Bilokon is calling on the broader research community to adopt more sex-inclusive study designs. She points to established frameworks from adjacent fields that already account for sex differences and argues that analogous approaches should be developed and standardized for hearing research.
“There are well-established guidelines for studying sex differences that have come from adjacent fields, and I hope our efforts over time will provide hearing-behavior approaches that can be easily adapted across labs,” she says in a release.
Historically, medical research has skewed toward male subjects, with findings extrapolated to women. Bilokon’s work is part of a broader shift within the scientific community over the past decade to recognize and account for sex-based biological differences in health outcomes.
Implications for Audiology Practice
For hearing care professionals, the research carries practical weight. Understanding that auditory variability may be tied to hormonal status — rather than pathology alone — could inform more nuanced diagnostic interpretations and more individualized management strategies for patients.
“This work is about improving how we understand hearing for everyone,” says Bilokon in a release. “By simply recognizing real biological differences, we can shift our scientific approach toward more accurate diagnoses and better care.”
Bilokon’s presentation also outlined avenues for future study, noting that sex-dependent auditory differences extend beyond simple sound detection and warrant closer examination across a range of hearing behaviors and outcomes.
